The Truth Behind Secrets & Lies
by rippedpants11
Summary: Hermione and Professor Snape are forced to work together, and neither is very happy about it. They try to keep their lives separate from one another, but circumstances don't allow that to happen. Not HBP compliant SSHG
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; J.K. Rowling does, I just made up the story.

**Chapter 1**

Snape glanced up from his desk where he was grading papers and glared at Hermione then asked curtly, "Miss Granger, have you completed the reading?"

"Yes, sir."

"Have you also answered the questions at the end of the chapter and copied the notes down?"

"Yes Professor, I'm done with it all."

"Er, yes . . . I see very good."

Ron chuckled and looked up from his notes, "Hermione, I swear one day Snape is going to crack and give you detention just because you finish early!"

Hermione laughed and rolled her eyes at Ron's comment. Snape looked up from his papers again and said angrily, "Miss Granger! Just because you are done early does _not _mean you can distract the other students from their work. Ten points from Gryffindor and detention with me tonight. Seven PM, sharp."

The bell to go to dinner rang just as Ron looked at Hermione apologetically, the three of them gathered up their books and Ron said to Hermione "Oh man, I am so sorry. I didn't know he was going to do that to you."

"Oh no," Hermione gasped, "I was going to go to the library to study tonight!"

"Well," Ron said, laughing, "Either way I look at it, whether or not you got landed in detention, tonight was going to suck."

"Ron . . . "

"Huh?"

"Shut up."

--

At 6:58 Hermione knocked on the door to the dungeons. Hermione heard Snape bark from behind the closed door, "Come in." She sighed as she entered, knowing it was going to be a very long night indeed. "Miss Granger," he said silkily "You will be helping me grade the 3rd years essays on Wolfsbane."

"Yes sir." Hermione said.

She sat down across the desk from him, picked up a stack of essays and started reading them. Hermione wasn't sure what time it was, because whenever she tried to sneak a look at the clock Snape would clear his throat pointedly. After she had been there for what seemed like forever Snape said, "You are dismissed Miss Granger, do you have any complaints about any essays?"

"No Professor, but Chris Stanton's essay was marvelous! He went over every detail. The way he writes is so entrancing. I wanted to keep reading, it wasn't a boring essay like most are."

"Yes, he is quite a bright student . . . a know-it-all; much like a male version of yourself."

Hermione blushed and merely replied with a quick, "Oh."

Snape appeared to be in deep thought; he shook himself and said quickly, "Right, well. Go back to your common room now. Best not be late."

"Yes, Professor, see you tomorrow"

Snape stayed quiet, he was carefully focused on his next stack of essays.

'Ugh,' Snape thought to himself as Hermione walked out the door, why did he always say such cruel things to her? She was always very nice to him and for the first time, possibly ever, the two of them had been having a somewhat normal conversation. He wanted to kick himself. He always got nervous when he was alone with her. He hadn't noticed until fairly recently that Hermione was a beautiful young woman. She had beautiful auburn curls that hung in very pretty ringlets, as opposed to when she was a first year and her hair was a frizzy mess. She had become very curvaceous, and was a beautiful woman.

Not only was she beautiful, she was brilliant as well. She excelled in everything she did, she was a hard worker, and she loved learning. Snape sighed as he went back to grading his papers, hoping that one day he would be able to tell Hermione what he thought about her and that _maybe, just maybe _she would lov—no, no, _like_him back. 'I must be losing it,' he thought bitterly, 'I almost allowed myself to think that! Plus, she would never like me; I made her life and her friends' lives living hell for 6 years. Not to mention, I am 20 years older than her!' He shook himself, and made himself concentrate on his essays that had to be graded.

--

When Hermione walked through the portrait hole she saw that Ron and Harry were still up. "Why are you two still up," she asked imploringly, "I told you not to wait up for me." Harry stood up from his armchair by the fire and said, "Well, we wanted to find out how it went. How did it go? What'd he make you do?"

Hermione sighed as she sat down warily, "Well, I had to grade all the 3rd years essays on Wolfsbane. It was really easy. Snape was very, well, different. He allowed me to sit across from him at the desk, and then when he dismissed me he asked if I had anything to say about any of the essays. Right when I was about to leave he made one of his usual know-it-all comments. He seemed to kind of snap back into his 'normal' self."

"Wow, he sounds almost humane there." Ron said in awe.

Hermione grinned, "Yeah, well I am really tired so I'm going to go up to bed."

"Yeah, me too." said Ron. Harry nodded his head in agreement and said, " 'Night Hermione"

"Night boys", Hermione replied, yawning.

--

Hermione met Harry, Ron, and Ginny downstairs for breakfast. "Morning!" said Ginny brightly. "Hello", Hermione said, "Oh it's Friday, isn't it? Good, I could use a weekend to catch up on homework." Ginny smiled and said laughing, "Oh, but Hermione why don't the four of us hang out tonight in the common room? You'll still have Saturday and Sunday for your catching up."

"Oh, all right then. I could use a bit of a break I suppose."

The first class of the day was potions, and Ron, Hermione, and Harry said goodbye to Ginny as they set off for the dungeons. In potions Snape said, "The directions for the potion are on the board, and a vial of the potion is due on my desk at the end of class. Begin."

With a wave of his wand the direction for the potion appeared on the board. The class started working away on the tedious potion. Hermione sighed as she looked up at the board and Snape, whose desk was right in front of the board. As she looked at Snape she saw that his deep dark eyes were looking right at _her. _They held eye contact for several seconds, then Hermione realized what was going on and then she gave a little gasp and went back to her potion. She didn't need a mirror to tell her that she was a deep scarlet as she looked back down at her potion. Why had Snape been looking at her? Maybe it was nothing, in fact, she was sureit was.

Harry turned towards Hermione about twenty minutes later and said, "Uh, Hermione, every time I look up at the board, Snape's staring at you."

"Well, Harry," she answered angrily, "Maybe you should stop looking up at the board!"

"Jeez, sorry Hermione. Don't get your knickers in a twist, just thought I would let you know."

Hermione looked over at Harry apologetically. "I know Harry, I am sorry, I noticed earlier and it freaked me out a little. Sorry I snapped."

"No problem, I can see why you would be freaked out. If Snape kept looking at me like he's looking at you . . ."

"Okay, Harry shut up, seriously."

Ron, hearing this whole conversation, chuckled and as he leaned over Hermione to 'whisper' to Harry, "I think Snape has a wee crush on Hermione. What do you think Harry?"

"Ron-- ," Hermione interjected before Harry could say a word, "He does _not _have a crush on me, you immature git!"

Hermione went back to furiously working on her potion, fuming about Ron and Harry's idiocy. About twenty minutes later the bell rang and everyone put a sample of their own potion on Snape's desk, then packed up their things. Right as Hermione was about to walk out the door, Snape called after her, "Uh, excuse me, Miss Granger . . . I have something of . . . uh . . . much importance to discuss with you. I will write you a note for your next class too."

"Oh, alright Professor," Hermione said looking over at Ron and Harry who were both grinning at her in an all-knowing way. Prats. "See ya in transfiguration, Hermione! We'll tell McGonagall where you are so she doesn't worry," Harry said with a huge grin while Ron gave a huge snort of laughter. The two boys left and Hermione turned and walked over to Professor Snape's desk.

"Yes Professor? What did you wish to discuss with me?"

"Oh yes," said Snape looking nervous. When Hermione saw that _Snape _was nervous, her palms started sweating and she wondered if Ron and Harry had been right after all. She dearly hoped not. Snape stood up, and cleared his throat and said, "Well Hermione . . ."

'Oh my God.' Hermione thought. Why was he calling her Hermione? He _always _called students by their last name. She was praying it wasn't what she thought . . .

A/N: Thanks for reading and with any _questions_ you have go to my blog (the web address is in my profile) and post a comment, and check back for my responses!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; J.K. Rowling does, I just made up the story.

**Chapter 2**

Snape _always _called students by their last name. She was praying it wasn't what she thought . . .

" . . . Professor McGonagall was telling me how much you loved the excitement of potion making. She thought that you would greatly benefit from taking an apprenticeship, if you will, from me every weekend. The hours wouldn't be too long, and I would assist you in making the more difficult potions that you would like to try out. It would be very advantageous to your N.E.W.T.'s. What do you think of this arrangement?"

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as he finished his statement. Then, she realized what an amazing opportunity this was for her. She couldn't believe that Snape was allowing her to spend _extra _time with him. Not her, necessarily, just any student. She looked up at him in shock and said, "Are you serious Professor? I could really do that?"

"Only if you wanted to, Miss Granger." Said Snape looking a bit miffed at her.

"Wow," she breathed, "I would absolutely love to, Professor!"

"When would you like to begin?"

"Whenever you would like to begin; I think we should get started this Saturday so we can begin planning for what to do in future weeks."

"That would be perfect, Professor!"

"I will see you at 10am tomorrow."

"Thank you again Professor!"

Snape was about to mutter a quick 'Thank you' when Hermione gave him a huge hug. He was unsure of what to do about this. No one had kissed him, let alone hugged him, in years. After one second or so he gave her a partial hug back. He didn't know what else to do, shoving her off of him would be considered 'normal Severus behavior' he thought, and that was something he _didn't _want where Hermione was concerned.

After several more seconds, they broke apart. Snape noticed that Hermione was blushing furiously. Snape wrote her a quick note to class, and she hurried off. He was deliriously happy, she had agreed very happily to the apprenticeship and she even gave him a hug! Snape went back into his private quarters and started pulling books off the shelves and going through them looking for potions that would challenge Hermione, but at the same time she would thoroughly enjoy doing.

Severus spent hours pouring over his books, and he found hundreds of potions that they could work on together. He let out a large sigh as he looked at his clock and realized that it was time for dinner. He cleaned up all of his books and put the list of potions next to the couch he had been sitting on while researching more potions.

As Severus walked into the Great Hall, which was filled with the usual excited talking especially since it was Friday, he wondered why he had even bothered coming up from his chambers. And as his eyes scanned around the dining hall, his eyes fell upon the Gryffindor table and he saw Hermione Granger talking with Harry and Ron. He suddenly remembered why he had come up at all. He almost allowed himself to smile; that couldn't happen, at least not in front of the whole school.

Snape saw that Hermione was laughing at something Ron had just said to her.

"Oh yeah," Hermione said suddenly remembering something very important she had to tell Harry and Ron, "Didn't you guys want to know what Professor Snape wanted to talk to me about today?"

"Oh yeah!" the two boys said in unison.

"Well, he said that Professor McGonagall thought it would help me a great deal if I was able to have a potions apprenticeship with him every Saturday at 10! He seemed excited by the thought of the extra classes, and I am really excited too. I start tomorrow morning!"

"Hermione, are you sure that's a good idea?" Ron asked, sounding unsure.

"Ron, its fine, when I was talking to Snape he was being _so _kind to me! Right before I left I got so excited I gave him a hug, and . . . well, he hugged me back."

"No way!" shouted Harry.

"Yeah." Hermione said, blushing.

"Hermione," Ron asked, "One, why did you hug him and two, why did you hug him!"

"Shut up Ron, Snape seems to be a lot nicer than he acts in class. We will just have to wait until tomorrow to see what comes out of it."

"I don't know, Hermione", Harry said uncertainly.

"What's the worst thing that could happen, anyways?" Hermione said getting a little frustrated, "The worst is that he acts the way he does in class, which I am used to. This is a great opportunity, no matter what you guys say, I'm going."

"Fine Hermione, but don't come crying to us when Snape pulls a fast one on you." Ron said bitterly.

"Honestly, both of you just be quiet, wait until tomorrow when I get back, then we can discuss all of this.

--

Hermione was walking down the hallway to the dungeons, and she could hear her heels clicking on the ground as she walked along the corridors. She knocked on a door and heard a voice from inside the room say, "Come in."

Snape was sitting at his desk, mulling over some incredibly problematical potions that he was unsure of what to do with. When all of a sudden he heard a knock on the door. 'Who could be here at such a late hour?' he mused. With a quick "Come in," the door opened and Hermione was standing at the door. All he could see was her face, though; the rest of her was in shadow. She walked further into the room and when he saw what she was wearing he gave a small gasp; she was wearing some type of odd, but yet rather sexy leather outfit and a pair of heels.

Hermione walked over to him and kissed him full on the lips. She started to hastily unbutton his shirt while kissing him more and more. Snape pulled her close to him and she moaned as he began to grind his hips into her.

Hermione awoke with a jolt and she was looking wildly around the dormitory. She stood up out of bed to inspect herself. Good, she wasn't wearing any leather, and there were no stilettos in sight. She gave a small gasp as she realized what her dream was about. She plopped back down onto her bed and shook her head, this couldn't be happening! An almost-sex dream about Snape! If she hadn't woken up, the dream may have gone further. Thank God she woke up when she did. If she hadn't she might have actually . . . done the dirty deed with Snape, even if it was only in her dream! After another few minutes of wild panic she gave a small giggle. What was up with that outfit she had been wearing, I mean, honestly. If she had gone to seduce Snape, she probably would have worn—oh my god. She had actually _thought _'If _I _had gone to seduce Snape . . . ' Ick! She couldn't believe the thought had gone through her mind. Clearly, what she needed was more sleep. She looked over at her alarm clock and realized that it was only 2 am. She needed to get back to bed if she wanted to wake up on time for her apprenticeship with Snape at 10. Oh no, _the apprenticeship_ she realized as she lay down on her bed. 'What am I going to do?' she wondered as she fell asleep feeling apprehensive about the coming day.

Hermione yawned as she woke up, and then remembered her dream that she had last night/this morning. She quickly got dressed and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. As she sat down at the Gryffindor table she whispered in Ginny's ear, "I have something I gotta tell you before I go for the apprenticeship with Snape."

"Alright." said Ginny looking somewhat confused.

Once Ginny had eaten the last mouthful of her cereal Hermione grabbed Ginny by the arm and dragged her to a more private area where no one could hear them talking. Hermione took a big breath and said, "Ginny, I have to tell you about the dream I had last night."

"Okay, shoot!" Ginny said looking slightly confused about why Hermione had to drag her all the way out of the great hall for this.

"Okay Ginny, you can't laugh at me, now. It involves an odd leather bondage-y outfit, cute heels, some almost-sex, and . . . " Hermione paused, unsure whether to go on.

"Okay, you can't stop now! I need to know the last item that was in your dream Hermione." Ginny said excitedly.

Hermione said quietly, "And . . . Professor Snape."

Ginny stood there in shock and then said, "Hahaha and you have the apprenticeship with him today. Lucky you!"

"Yeah, I know. It's going to be awkward."

"No, only for you. He won't even know about it. Don't worry about it. Besides, it was just a dream. They don't necessarily mean anything." Ginny said wisely.

'Yeah, she's right.' Hermione thought. There _wasn't _anything for her to be worried about. She shrugged of the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that was telling her that there was something to be worried about.

A/N: Thanks for reading, and as usual any questions will be answered on my blogger


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; J.K. Rowling does, I just made up the story.

**Chapter 3**

At exactly 10 o'clock Hermione knocked on the door to the dungeons classroom where her apprenticeship would be taking place. No one answered so she glanced up and down the hall to see if anyone was coming, opened up the door, and ducked inside. No one was inside the classroom, but there were books on Professor Snape's desk that were clearly for more advanced levels. She smiled as she looked at them, and she desperately wanted to pick one up and start reading it. Hermione realized that she _had _to find Snape now. She was casually looking around the room, wondering where he might be when her eyes fell on the door behind the desk that led to Snape's private quarters. It was open slightly and after a moments hesitation she began to walk over to the door.

She just stuck her head in through the door and looked around then said loudly, "Professor Snape? Are you in here? Professor?" She straightened up and stood just inside the door as she pushed open the door all the way. She walked a few paces into the room and was craning her neck around to see where he might've gone too. "Where are you, Snape?" Hermione mumbled to herself.

"I am right here Miss Granger, please get out of my private quarters immediately! In the future if I am not in the classroom please wait for me out there."

"Sorry Professor, you were a lot nicer last night . . ." Hermione gave a small snort as she realized what she had said to him. Whoops.

" Last night? Miss Granger I did not see you last night. But, nonetheless it's quite alright, are you ready to start today?" Snape said sounding _apologetic? _Perhaps he's gone off the deep end.

Hermione grinned and said excitedly, "Yes Professor I am ready to start! Don't we need to select some potions to work on?"

"Yes Miss Granger, my plan was to begin today by picking out potions that would interest you. I have already come up with quite an extensive list, which perhaps you would like to look at to see if you would enjoy any of them?"

"That's wonderful Professor! Where is the list?"

"Er, it's actually in my study. Follow me."

Hermione followed Snape back into his study and her eyes widened as she walked in. It was amazing, not only were the walls lined with bookshelves from floor to ceiling, but also the man had taste! The furniture was all beautiful and was very rich colors. There two dark blue winged chairs by the fire, and a black leather couch over by the rich mahogany bookshelves. She smiled widely as she was looking around the room. "Wow sir, your study is amazing! Look! You even have 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. You have muggle _and _magical books. This is wonderful Professor!"

"Thank you Miss Granger. The list is there on the end table next to the couch, and beneath the table are all the books that I got the potions from. So, in case you want to do some background reading, there you are."

Hermione smiled at Snape and walked over to the couch and plopped down as she grabbed a book and began to read, her eyes full of intrigue.

Snape chuckled to himself as he walked out of the study to get the books off of his desk that he was going to continue looking through for more potions. She and Albus were the only people who appreciated his book collection properly. This was good and bad for him. Good in the sense that this was another reason to like her, and to want her. Bad in the sense that this was another reason to like and want her. He sighed as he picked up the books from his desk. She was beautiful, insanely smart, vivacious, energetic, and . . . 20 years younger than him. As he walked back into his study he looked over at Hermione and saw that she had just as much expression on her face while reading as she had while talking.

Snape had picked out some truly amazing potions for them to work on together. Hermione was shocked that he would allow her to do some of them because of how dangerous they were, or likewise. After reading through about 20 potions she looked up at Snape and studied him for a moment. He was sitting in one of the beautiful dark blue chairs by the fire, he was facing her direction, and he had his feet tucked under himself as his eyes scanned across the pages. He would occasionally stop reading to pick up his quill and write down, no doubt, another interesting potion. He also had reading glasses on! How cute! Oh my God, Hermione realized that she had just thought of Snape as cute. Not only was he going off the deep end, she was going right along with him. 'Well', she thought, 'If I go off the 'deep end' with him I won't mind, he's actually pretty good looking.' Ahhhhh! She had to stop thinking these things! She shook herself and went back to reading, but she wasn't nearly as focused as she had been before.

Hours passed, neither of them really realizing it till Hermione noticed that the candles had been magically lit up. She looked around and then looked over at Snape, he was still sitting over in the chair reading. "Uh, Professor, what time is it?" He looked up, looking very confused.

"What was that, Miss Granger?" said Snape looking slightly shocked that she would be asking such a thing.

"What time is it, Professor, it must be late now."

"Oh, of course. It is, my God, 5:30! We've been here for nearly 8 hours. We'll walk up to dinner together in 15 minutes, if you don't mind waiting."

"Oh, that would be perfect Professor. Thank you."

About 10 minutes later Snape stood up, stretched and said, "Miss Granger I am going to change into my dinner robes, start wrapping up over there, I know how hard it is to get yourself out of a book whilst reading it."

"Mhmm" said Hermione glancing up.

Then what Snape had said sunk in, and she packed up her things and put the list and the notes she had made about them back on the table. She stood up and noticed the door to Snape's bedroom open about 4 inches, she inched her way over to the door and looked in. Snape was standing by what looked like the corner of his bed wearing a pair of black muggle jeans… and that was it. Her eyes widened as she took in this sight of a real-life half-naked Snape. He was surprisingly toned; he had some biceps, not too big that they looked all muscle builder-y, but a nice size. A good word to describe him would be 'wiry'. That was _just _the way she liked her men, skinny but muscular and strong. She suddenly realized she had thought of Snape as 'her man'. Ack, was this queer thinking ever going to end? But, he was really good looking. He had even tied his hair back in a low ponytail while changing. It looked really sexy. She grinned as he pulled on a black t-shirt and his robes on top of that.

Shoot! He was about to come back out into the study! She quickly walked over to the couch and plopped down on the couch. Only about 3 seconds after she sat down did the door fully open, and Snape come out, fully clothed and without his cute ponytail. That was close, he might've caught her and she would've been in hugetrouble if that happened.

Snape looked over at her, smiled (smiled?) and said, "Ready, Miss Granger?"

'Yes Professor, but kindly take off your shirt and unbutton your pants 'cause we're going to skip dinner tonight, baby!' She thought, but instead she quickly nodded her head as they walked into the main classroom.

"Thank you so much for doing this for me Professor! It means so much

to me." Hermione said as they approached the Great Hall.

"No problem, Miss Granger. I am quite enjoying myself as well. Will I see you next Saturday?" said Snape looking pleased.

"Mhm" said Hermione as Snape pushed open the doors to the Great Hall. Hermione walked towards the Gryffindor table, and Snape towards the staff table.

"'Mione, you were gone for 8 hours! Are you ok? How was it? Did he rape you? Did he laugh at you?" Ron said as soon as she sat down at the table. Harry laughed at the look on Hermione's face at Ron's battering of questions.

"Ron, I am completely, one-hundred percent fine. It was amazing, Snape was really nice," said said shooting a look at the both of them, "He wasn't mean, cruel, didn't make a single rude comment, or anything. Today we just read, looking for potions to do in the coming weeks. It was uneventful."

"Oh." Said Ron looking somewhat disappointed that he didn't have a reason to be mad at Snape. Harry grinned and said, "Well, I'm sure you had fun Hermione. And I am glad that Snape was good to you. Probably made an improvement over what you thought was going to happen. Huh?"

"Yeah, it did." Said Hermione after swallowing a piece of chicken that was in her mouth.

"Hey Hermione . . . how was it?" said Ginny winking at her.

"I'll tell you the details in the common room!" whispered Hermione into Ginny's ear.

"Ooh! Alright, then." Ginny said looking thrilled.

_A/N: Once again, any questions will be answered on my blogspot. The link is in my profile. Thanks for reading!_


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; J.K. Rowling does, I just made up the story.

**Chapter 4**

After dinner Ginny and Hermione went upstairs to the common room, and plopped down into a secluded corner of the room. "Okay Hermione, spill it!" Ginny said giggling wildly.

Once she was done telling Ginny about what happened during the first apprenticeship earlier that day her mouth was wide open in shock. "Gosh," Hermione said with a small laugh, "It's not _that _amazing is it? Did I miss something?"

"Hermione . . . Snape, _Snape_ was nice to you. He was nice and let you go into his 'private quarters'. Not to mention, you saw the guy half-naked and you said he didn't look half bad. You tell me what's so 'amazing'." Said Ginny pointedly.

Hermione rolled my eyes at her 'wink-wink nudge-nudge' deductions. "Ginny, nothing like _that _is going to happen. He's in his thirties, a professor, and I hate him. Remember?"

"And you sound completely smitten," Ginny replied while glancing out the window.

"I do not! Just because I found someone who has the same passions as me, does not mean that . . ." Hermione glanced around realizing she was being a bit loud, and people were beginning to look over at her. She quickly whispered angrily, " . . . it does not mean that Snape and I are going to have a, uh, relationship or something!"

Ginny looked at Hermione then laughed and replied to Hermione's outburst with a simple, "Haha, you used the words 'passion', 'relationship', and 'Snape' in the same sentence." Then, Ginny smiled and went up to her room to turn in for the night. Hermione sighed as she realized that she still had homework to catch up on from her detention with Snape.

She got out her books and began working tirelessly to finish all of the homework she had to do. It was a good thing that the next day was Sunday, because Hermione was up until 3 in the morning correcting her last piece of homework. She gave a small sigh as she headed up to her room with all of her books and her completed homework tucked under her arm. Hermione opened the door to her room quietly, because the other four girls were all sound asleep, as they had been soundly dreaming for probably almost five hours now. Hermione put her books away and got changed into her pajamas, and laid down on her bed. It had been a long, but very good day. As soon as she shut her eyes she fell fast asleep.

Hermione was awoken the next morning by sunlight streaming through the windows across from her bed. As she gave a yawn, she turned onto her side to look at her alarm clock; she figured it must be late because the other 4 girls were nowhere in sight. Her alarm clock read '11 'o' clock'. It was one hour till lunch; she had plenty of time to get dressed. She spent some time lying in bed, and then took her time deciding what clothes to wear underneath her robes. Once she was done, Hermione took one last quick glance in the mirror; decided she was pleased with her appearance, and walked into the common room.

Harry & Ron were standing by the windows discussing something in quiet voices. Ron saw Hermione first, "Oy, Hermione! Why're you up so late?"

Hermione yawned and said, "I was finishing homework until 3. Is it time to go down to lunch? I'm starved."

"Yeah, ok then," said Ron looking at Hermione like she was crazy, "Hermione, only you would stay up till 3 in the morning doing _homework_."

Hermione gave a weak smile and gestured towards the portrait hole. The two boys understood what she meant, and they left the common room quickly.

--

Snape looked over at the Gryffindor table when lunch began. Hermione wasn't there; she hadn't been there at breakfast earlier that morning. He was nervous that she hadn't shown up yet. Potter and Weasley weren't there yet either. How he loathed those boys. He was sitting at the staff table, not eating, thinking about how he could get rid of those two boys to get closer to Hermione, when the three of them all walked in together. Snape could feel something rising in his chest as he looked at her. Snape almost felt sad that he would never get to tell her how he felt about her.

Hermione, Ron, and Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table with Ginny. Ginny said hello and smiled at them then turned obviously to Hermione and said, "So, Hermione, do you get what I told you yet?"

"Yes Ginny, I got the subtle hints." Hermione said scathingly.

Harry and Ron looked onto the scene with much apprehension; they weren't sure what to do. Ron looked over at Harry, shrugged, and then went back to eating his lunch.

"And what conclusion did you come to?" Ginny asked in a bittersweet voice.

"That you are certifiably insane." Hermione answered without missing a beat.

Ginny rolled her eyes at Hermione's response and she said, "Well, give it about a month and your answer will be different I can guarantee it." Ginny said smiling as she stood up from the table. "I'm going to go up to the common room, see you guys." As Ginny was walking by Hermione she bent down and whispered, "Right, I am _so _sure nothings going on in yours or Snapes heads about each other. That's why he has been staring at you all lunch. And whenever I mention him you turn bright red."

Hermione, well, she turned bright red at Ginny's comment. Obviously, Ginny noticed and said thoughtfully, "Please come talk to me about this after lunch, I won't tell anyone. And I know there is something 'to tell' so don't tell me there isn't. I just want to help." And Ginny walked off without another word.

Harry and Ron gave Hermione confused looks. "What was that all about, 'Mione?" Ron asked sounding concerned.

"Really Ron, it's nothing. She's just trying to play with my mind." Hermione answered as she stood up preparing to leave for the common room, fully planning to talk to Ginny about this… problem, "And it's working." Hermione mumbled more to herself than anyone as she hurried out of the Great Hall, fully aware that three sets of eyes were on her as she left. Harry's, Ron's, and Professor Snape's.

--

When Hermione rushed into the common room she saw Ginny waiting expectantly by the windows. "Hmm," said Ginny, "Took you 20 seconds longer than I thought. Come, sit."

Hermione wasn't sure whether to roll her eyes at Ginny or to run over to her and tell her everything. She decided that both ideas seemed stupid, so she slowly walked over to Ginny, sat down on the windowsill and dropped her bag on the floor, and said quietly, "Oh Ginny, I don't know what the hell is going on. I find Professor Snape interesting to talk to, I enjoy being in the same room as him, I am _comfortable _being in the same room of him, and worst of all . . . I think he looks sexy without his shirt on!" Hermione finished with a wail.

Ginny looked at her sympathetically. "Well, Hermione if all that you told me about him last night is true, then you have no reason to be ashamed. Well, besides the fact that he's made your life hell for the past 6 years, Harry & Ron hate his guts, and he's 20 years older than you, but that's all there is to be ashamed of." Said Ginny finishing her very anti-climatic speech.

"Was that supposed to help me?" Hermione asked Ginny with a smile.

"Well, I was trying to cheer you up, and look; you're smiling! I would say it worked." Ginny said grinning.

Hermione laughed, then quickly put on a humorless face and said, "Ginny, I still don't know what to do! I am in love with Snape!"

Ginny rolled her eyes and said, "Enough with the dramatics! You are notin love with him. So, you hung out with him yesterday for 8 hours, but all you did was read. You're in love with the _idea _of what Snape can be. So, chill out; nothing to worry about, yet."

"YET!" Hermione shrieked angrily. "There could be more? Aghh I can't deal with this!"

"Overreact much?" Ginny said trying to hide her smirk. "I meant 'yet' in the sense that you love the idea of what Snape can be, and Snape knows you, and is in 'like' with the real you. See where this could lead?"

"Oh, I see what you're saying. So, how do I stop this now? Before anything more can amount?"

"Well," Ginny said looking unconvinced, "It's going to be difficult, but there's something else we _need _to discuss first."

"Whether or not you could truly like Snape."

"What?" Hermione asked in a completely stupefied voice.

"Well, think about it. Snape, a clearly not too bad looking guy, shares the same passion as you when it comes to books, reading, learning, is just as smart as you, not to mention nice to you, _and _he already likes you. You tell me why you shouldn't try to pursue this."

"Duh," Hermione said, "He's a _teacher_, and Dumbledore wouldn't allow it. Plus, 20 year age difference! Hello?"

Ginny smiled and said back sweetly, "Well not only are you graduating in 6 months time, but also I highly doubt Dumbledore would mind if you two got together, as long as you kept it private and he respected you, which we both know, he would. Twenty-year age difference? Pfft, who cares? If you wind up truly loving him, then the age difference won't matter anyway."

Hermione realizing that she still was not defeated said, "Well, I don't like him anyhow."

Ginny looked at Hermione and said, "Duh, yeah you do. You came up to me to talk about him in the first place. Don't play these games with me. And if you get to know him better, and you don't like him _like that _then, forget it. Okay? Do we have a deal?"

Hermione looked down at her shoes then back up at Ginny and said, "Yeah, that's good."

"Thought you would sound a bit happier, I mean, I am going to help you get lover boy—I mean, man!" Ginny said giggling.

Hermione smiled and said, "Really? Fabulous! Have any ideas?"

"Yeah, course I do. My first one being . . ."

_A/N: Yet another chapter. Reviews would be much appreciated, and as usual any questions will be posted on blogger. Link for it is in my profile. Thanks guys!_


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; J.K. Rowling does, I just made up the story.

**Chapter 5**

"Yeah, 'course I do. My first thing you need to do to get Snape to want you more is to wear revealing muggle clothes underneath your robes and suddenly claim that you feel hot, temperature wise, and take off your robes to reveal your muggle clothing! It will be simple, easy, effective, and it won't appear to be a come-on!" Ginny finished brilliantly.

Hermione grinned at her and said, "Ginny! That's wonderful, I can't wait till Saturday to start the plan!"

The rest of the week went by very slowly for Hermione; she so desperately wanted it to be Saturday already. During Thursday's potions class she could barely keep concentrated because her mind kept drifting off to Snape and the apprenticeship on Saturday. When the bell rang Hermione began to gather up her things and then decided to stay after class to talk to Professor Snape about this weekend.

Snape saw Hermione messing around with her bag strap as though she wanted to speak with him. "Is there something you wanted, Miss Granger?" Snape asked as the last student left the room.

"Yes Professor, I was wondering, what potion will we be working on this Saturday?" Hermione said looking a little bit flustered as she asked him this.

"Well, I was thinking that we would start working on the Serenity Potion, which is like the Calming Potion that is fairly simple, but the Serenity Potion is for more extreme cases of nerves and also helps you to clear your mind if you need to focus on something, but cannot due to too many thoughts in your head. It is quite useful but not too incredibly difficult. You should be able to master it without too many complications. The only thing is, the potion lets off a lot of heat so I would wear some light robes on Saturday." Snape finished.

Hermione couldn't believe her luck! The potion would _allow _her to take off her robes without questions! "Oh that sounds wonderful Professor, and I am assuming it's at 10 as usual?"

"Yes, that is what I had planned." Snape said looking confused.

"Thank you so much Professor! It is greatly appreciated. I will see you then." Hermione said as she walked out of the room.

Harry and Ron were waiting for her outside of the room for her, as usual.

"What were you two discussing in there?" said Ron trying to be casual about it.

"Just my class on Saturday with him, checking to see what we would be doing and what time to be there by. That sort of thing." Hermione said to Ron with a shrug.

As the three of them sat down at the dinner table Ginny looked at Hermione with her eyebrows raised, clearly asking why she had returned from potions class so late. Hermione just smiled at Ginny and mouthed 'Later' to her. Ginny looked pleased about the fact that there was a new discovery on the 'Snape front'. Ginny had jokingly renamed their 'operation O.S.S.', which stood for 'Operation Severus Snape'. Hermione was so happy that Ginny could joke about this somewhat, because Hermione felt guilty about O.S.S. as it was.

After dinner Ginny and Hermione sat in a secluded corner of the common room and Hermione told Ginny that the potion would allow Hermione to take off her robes, no questions asked. Ginny looked thrilled about this wonderful news and she said smiling at Hermione, "Tomorrow night I will come up to your dorm room to help you pick out at outfit to wear under your robes! This is going to work wonderfully, I just know it!"

Friday passed by somewhat quickly, and during dinner Ginny sat down next to Hermione and whispered in her ear "Only sixteen hours until you get to put O.S.S. in to action! And, we still have to pick out your outfit tonight for tomorrow!" Ginny squealed excitedly. Hermione grinned back at her and quickly glanced up at the head table and watched Snape eat. Unfortunately he saw Hermione looking at him and her gaze quickly moved to the next teacher, as though she was scanning for someone. Ginny laughed as she watched Hermione quickly shift her eyes to Professor Flitwick who was next to Snape. "That was a close one Hermione, why don't you just stare at him in his private chambers." Ginny said looking bemused.

"Ginny! In his 'private chambers'?" Hermione said looking at her with an open-mouthed expression on her face.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, I wasn't even thinking about that. But now that you mention it…"

Hermione laughed and quickly finished her dinner and grabbed Ginny's arm so they could go pick out her outfit for the next day. Ginny laughed at Hermione's very obvious anticipation for the coming day, and decided she wasn't going to torment the poor girl any longer. "Fine, fine lets go upstairs then." Ginny said rolling her eyes at Hermione's eagerness to get her outfit.

Ginny personally thought that it was sweet, what was going on in between the two of them, but she had her doubts. Hermione shouldn't throw herself into this; he was twenty years older than her and he wasn't a nice man. Ginny had a feeling that come Saturday Hermione would back to the common room unhappy. She quickly shook away her feelings of sorrow; she was sure that it would be just fine on Saturday. It had to come out fine, for Hermione's sake.

Once the two of them made it into Hermione's head girl private dorm room, she began pulling out tops, bottoms, shoes, even socks that she thought would be 'appropriate' for their plan. Ginny grinned down at Hermione and said "Whoa, whoa, whoa missy, let's not forget its supposed to be a casual-sexy-I-threw-this-on-but-yeah-I-do-look-good-thanks-for-noticing look!"

"Right." said Hermione quickly looking over the clothes and shoving all the socks and shoes away. "We won't be needing to pick out those. I'll just wear my trainers and normal socks."

"Yeah," said Ginny looking thoughtful. She glanced over Hermione's clothes and said, "You would be comfortable wearing _any _of this stuff? You can't keep fidgeting with it or he'll get mad. It has to be casual, sexy, and comfortable all at once."

Hermione looked down at the clothing on her bed once again and nodded her head slowly, as if in thought. "Yeah, all of this stuff is perfect, I think."

"Ok, good." Ginny said as she grabbed a pair of washed, low-rise denim jeans. "Those will be totally hot on you!" Ginny said squealing delightedly.

"Wait! Those fall down and show my butt crack when I bend down though! I CANNOT WEAR THOSE!"

"Chill, Hermione. Are you planning on bending down for this potion? Or do you have a cute belt?"

"Oh, yeah, I have a few belts. Smart thinking Ginny!"

"Now for the top," said Ginny musing and shuffling around the shirts on Hermione's bed, "Put on the jeans and the black belt, and we are going to try on every shirt you own. The shirt is going to be the thing that can make or break this plan for tomorrow." Ginny said seriously.

Hermione gasped dramatically at Ginny's words and she had to hold back a laugh. Hermione was very funny without meaning to be sometimes, especially when she was studying and when it came to boys. Well, in this case men. If you wanted to get even more technical, only one man.

Hermione first tried on a white fitted t-shirt that looked really good, but if she spilled something on it, it would only look funny. Hermione tried on roughly ten more shirts and after she tried on an absolutely hideous sweater that her Mum had gotten her on a trip to Ireland several years back, Ginny let out a huge sigh and said tiredly, "Come over to my dorm, one of us _has _to have something you can wear tomorrow."

Hermione grabbed a random shirt and pulled it over her head as she followed Ginny out the door to her room. Once they entered Ginny's room, Ginny headed straight for her trunk. She quickly rifled through the trunk and pulled out three shirts. "Any of these would work, try them on." She said in a hushed voice.

Hermione tried on the first one and found it to be way too small for her, and the second one was a deep brown sweater that may have looked good on Ginny, but on Hermione it looked kind of like dog crap. Hermione held her breath as she pulled the last shirt over her head, hoping that it was going to work. Hermione looked in the mirror next to Ginny's bed and let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Ginny! This one is amazing!" Hermione shouted to a tired looking Ginny who was just laying on her bed looking defeated, but as soon as she heard Hermione say that she jumped off her bed to admire Hermione in the shirt.

"Oh, that's a shirt Dad got for me from some muggle store. It never looked good on me, but I always pack it so he thinks I like it. You should keep it though, it looks really great on you." Said Ginny approvingly.

It was a slate blue, faded "vintage" looking tee that had a faded band name on it. Hermione smiled at her reflection, but then she realized that the shirt wasn't her at all. She needed to be herself while also looking good. She looked over at Ginny, now feeling completely unconvinced about the shirt.

"Hermione, trust me. It looks good, and if it looks good, then its you! If when you start to get hot you really don't feel like taking off your robes, then don't. In the end it's all up to what you feel and what you do. Don't forget that."

"Right," said Hermione "I'll go back into my room and change out of this stuff so I don't do anything to it before tomorrow!"

"Haha ok Hermione meet me in the common room when you're done!" Ginny said laughing at Hermione.

Ginny couldn't help it. She felt all her fears flooding back about the next day. What really was going to happen? Did Snape feel the same way? Did Hermione really feel this way? Was it okay for this to be happening? Ginny shoved all of her questions to the back of her mind as she walked out the door to the common room to meet with Hermione for an hour or so before they both went to sleep.

_A/N: Hey everyone, thanks for reading and I am currently between LJ and Blogger so I'll be getting my LJ link up after I get home from school, so any answers to questions will be posted on my LJ shortly. Reviews would be much appreciated, I need to know what I'm doing right and wrong._

_Thanks!_


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; J.K. Rowling does, I just made up the story.

**Chapter 6**

After Ginny, Ron, Harry, and Hermione talked and laughed for a few hours in the common room, they all headed upstairs tired, but happy. Especially Hermione, who couldn't stop thinking about the next day and what was going to happen. After a long hour of worrying as she lay in her bed anticipating the next day, she realized that really nothing was going to happen tomorrow. No one was going to admit any sort of undying love, there would be no purposeful touching, or any inappropriate stroking. She may have wished for some, but of course it wasn't going to happen. Hermione pushed all of her thoughts of Snape to the back of her mind, and fell right asleep as soon as she did.

The next morning Hermione woke up with a really happy feeling in her gut, and at first she couldn't remember why she felt so happy; then she remembered that she was going to be seeing Snape for what she hoped would be the whole day. As she pulled on her special outfit for the day she looked over at the clock and saw it said nine AM. Perfect, she had an hour to fix her hair, eat breakfast, and walk down to the dungeons. Everything was going to be timed perfectly. After Hermione put her hair up in a sensible ponytail since she would be working with potions that day, she pulled her school robes on top of her outfit and went downstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast.

She smiled brightly at Harry, Ron, and Ginny who were all seated at the Gryffindor table and eating their breakfast. As she sat down she casually looked up at the head table at Snape and was surprised to see his seat empty. She shot a look at Ginny and she just shrugged and mouthed 'He hasn't been there all morning'.

Finally breaking the silence about five minutes later Ron, clearing his throat said, "Does someone have the, um, time?"

"Yeah, its 9:50, why?" Ginny asked.

"No reason, actually. I was just wondering, but I do need to get started on my homework soon. I don't want to leave it all to tomorrow like I always do."

Hermione laughed, "Ron, you're going to leave it till tomorrow anyways, you know that. Oh, and I have to go, I have my apprenticeship with Snape today. Don't want to be late or he'll kill me. I don't know when I'll be back, maybe late."

"Bye Hermione, have fun!" Ginny said while wiggling her eyebrows.

--

Snape had decided to skip breakfast to prepare for his lesson with Herm—Miss Granger that morning. He had been so busy working away on his preparations that he jumped at the sound of a knock on the door to his classroom. He looked up at the clock on the wall and was surprised to see that it was already ten 'o' clock. He quickly walked over to the door and opened it and saw Miss Granger at the door.

"Come in" Snape said curtly. He couldn't risk being too nice to Hermione, otherwise rumors would get spread around and even he was unsure of what he was or wasn't feeling for her. He had decided last night before he fell asleep that he wouldn't be nice to her, but he wouldn't be his usual harsh and callous self.

"Now, Miss Granger, this potion is not too complex in the ingredients, but it requires very precise timing which means we both need to pay a great amount of attention to the potion." Snape said while flipping through a potions book.

As soon as the serenity potion began to brew, the heat was almost immediate. Gasping from the heat Hermione asked Snape, "Is it only going to get hotter? Or will it remain at this temperature?"

"It should rise about another five to ten degrees before it reaches its plateau." He answered, panting slightly.

Hermione decided that the time to take off her outer robes was now or never. She made sure Snape was looking in her general direction, and she slowly pulled her outer robes off. She pretended not to even be looking at him, but as she pulled off her robes she saw Snape's eyes widen at her low-rise jeans and her tight shirt. She almost laughed as Snape shifted uncomfortably on the stool he was sitting on to make the potion.

Snape suddenly said, "Miss Granger, I need to go into my back rooms briefly. This just needs to sit for the next ten minutes; I will be back in time for the next step though."

"Okay Professor." Hermione said nodding her head at his comment.

--

Snape paced his bedroom in deep thought, what should he do? Miss Granger was either coming on to him, or just very hot because it was very hot in the classroom… or, possibly both? Well, he decided he should assume the worst, which was her coming on to him, but it wasn't "the worst" because he wouldn't mind if she did do that, it was more because she was a student. So, his student was coming on to him, what should he do? Should he go with it and change into something besides his robes or go back out there and pretend like nothing was going on? He decided on the latter because for now he needed to stay "the responsible one".

He walked back out into the main classroom quickly, and mumbled a quick apology about his absence and got back into the potion work with her. "Miss Granger, could you please hand me the Essence of Doworth for this next step?" he said absent-mindedly.

Hermione grinned at what she was going to do next, she was just going to lightly brush his hand and gaze into his eyes as she passed him the next ingredient.

She picked up the vial of the ingredient and gazed right into Snape's eyes and allowed her fingers to brush against his for what felt like minutes. She blushed deeply as she felt Snape's arm stiffen at her touch, and she quickly let go of the bottle and looked away from him.

Snape's mind was reeling, what should be do? He could ignore it, or right then yell at her to stop this completely nonsensical behavior. As much as he wanted to ignore it, he knew he couldn't ignore it, he was a teacher and he had to keep his students in line no matter how little he cared if she touched him. He sighed and drew in a large breath.

"Miss Granger, correct me if I am mistaken but I am a teacher at Hogwarts." Silence. "I thought so, and you are a student, are you not?" he could see her eyes grow wider under his icy glare, "Then please keep your robes on, or at least wear something decent, and coming on to me violates the student-teacher rule number seven hundred and thirty-one. If you continue your despicable behavior, you will no longer be allowed to have this experience with me. Are we understood?"

Hermione was open-mouthed in shock at what Professor Snape had just said. She silently reprimanded herself for her dumb and completely foolish behavior. Nothing could ever happen between them, and even if it could Snape could never feel something like love, let alone "like". Snape was looking at her expectantly for an answer, his dark eyes angry. "Yes Professor, I apologize for my actions. I did not realize what I was doing. I still want to work on the potions with you." Hermione answered him.

Snape saw the hurt deep within her eyes, and he immediately wanted to take back what he had said. He knew he couldn't take it back, not without serious problems. Besides, he was always a vindictive person to his students, Miss Granger was really no different, well, she was in his mind but that couldn't show through in his actions and his treatment of her. She was still a student.

The two of them quickly got back to work on the potion, although it was a bit awkward they somehow managed to make it through the next two hours. After it was completed Hermione and Snape spent about thirty minutes bottling up it up.

Professor Snape said once they were done, "Miss Granger, take up all of these bottles to the infirmary, they can use them there. You may take two or three bottles with you for your own use if you wish. I will be seeing you next weekend, same time."

Snape just cleaned up the ingredients and cauldron, and stalked back into his private rooms. Hermione gave a sigh as she picked up the box of vials and she put three bottles in the pocket of her robes for her next big test.

--

That night Snape was sitting at his desk grading some essays, and all day he had been ignoring what had happened earlier that day. He couldn't bear to think about what had happened. He knew that what he'd done was the proper thing to do, but secretly all he wanted was to be able to relax around Hermione… when had 'Miss Granger' become 'Hermione' to him? At that moment, he decided that if things got much worse between him and Hermi—Miss Granger he was going to talk to Albus about this 'issue'. It could in no way go unresolved, or there would be a slew of problems for him, Miss Granger, Albus, and the school.

He wondered what Hermione was telling the rest of The Golden Trio about him. Nothing good that was for sure, she was probably talking about what a sick, foul, and greasy asshole he was. He was positive she hadn't thought up that ridiculous, nonetheless effective, plan that involved her taking off her robes. Probably the youngest Weasley girl gave her the idea, she was the only one Miss Granger trusted out of all the girls in Gryffindor.

--

"Oh no he didn't." Ginny Weasley said almost breathlessly with an almost hysterical look in her eyes as Hermione finished telling Ginny what had happened that afternoon during the apprenticeship.

"Hermione, we need to do something about this, and fast." She said with an almost frightening reassurance.

Hermione didn't know what Ginny was planning, but there was no way it was going to be good.

_A/N: I know I'm posting this a bit early (can't get mad at me, can you?), but it's because my power is currently out (we have a generator) and tomorrow it might be too much of a hassle to get stuff set up and whatnot, so I figured better be safe than sorry._

_**NEW SITE. MY LJ LINK IS IN MY PROFILE. **Reviews would be much appreciated. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed already._


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; J.K. Rowling does, I just made up the story.

**Chapter 7**

"That bastard!" Ginny shrieked in rage after pacing un-relentlessly for almost five minutes. Hermione had just sat there and watched her, fearing what she was going to say.

"Hermione! Why aren't you angrier? He completely disrespected you. He had no right whatsoever to call you out like that! That cruel, disgusting, loathsome man!" Ginny shouted at Hermione.

Hermione continued to sit there in complete silence thinking her own thoughts about Snape. He had been completely within his rights to tell her off like he did. As she thought more about the situation she realized how foolish it was. She didn't even _like _Snape! She had only been compensating for lack of, what she assumed, any crushes at all. Her face turned red at the thought of what she had done; there had to be some way to let Snape know she was sorry; she really wanted this apprenticeship. It would be silly to lose it over what was clearly a loss of sanity for about a week. She then looked up at Ginny, who had appeared to have run out of fuel and all she could say was, "He . . . he . . . he . . ."

Hermione smiled at her. "Ginny I know what I'm going to do about this," she continued without waiting for a response, "I am merely going to write an apology letter."

"That's it?" Ginny muttered hoarsely, "A letter of apology?"

"Yes, what I did was uncalled for and completely irrational. I have homework to do, so if you'll excuse me." Hermione said as she went to her room to get her book bag.

Just so she didn't forget Hermione grabbed a piece of parchment out of her bag and began her apology note.

_Dear Professor Snape,_

_I apologize for my immoral behavior during the extra lesson today. I enjoy working on the potions, and nothing like that will happen again. I look forward to the lesson next week._

_Sincerely,_

_Hermione Granger_

Pleased with that, she went to the owlery and told the owl to deliver it at Sunday mornings breakfast. The school barn owl hooted its understanding and Hermione went back to the common room to do her homework.

--

At dinner that night Hermione and Ginny were just glaring at each other across the table. Harry and Ron surprisingly noticed and were being very quiet and not saying anything that could upset the two of them.

Harry cleared his throat and timidly said, "Hermione, I know last time this happened in potions you yelled at me, but we aren't in potions now so I thought I would let you know… Snape is staring in your general direction."

"He's probably just staring at me because of my absolutely _appalling _behavior." Hermione said, her eyes flashing at Ginny.

"Actually Hermione," Ginny countered in a bittersweet voice, "He is probably _repulsed _by a stupid apology letter that got sent to him."

"I think he liked the apology letter just fine, and if you don't just shut the fuck up already I am going to hex you into oblivion!" Hermione screeched angrily.

"Oh you wouldn't…" Ginny whispered.

"Don't doubt it."

"Why the hell are we fighting over that morbid asshole?"

"You brought it up! It is my decision how to handle my own matters not yours!" Hermione screamed. She quickly stood up from the table and her plate fell with a loud clatter to the floor.

The Great Hall was silent as everyone turned to look at Hermione and Ginny's argument. The two of them turned a deep shade of red, and Hermione stormed out of the Great Hall as quickly as she could. She also couldn't help but notice Snape's eyes follow her out of the room as she stormed out, and for some reason this made her even more upset. As soon as she got to the portrait of the fat lady, she gave the hurried password and headed to her dorm room. She flung herself on her bed as a wave of self-pity came over her and she fell asleep.

--

The next morning Hermione woke still feeling upset from the previous nights events, but she got up and went down to breakfast. As she walked into the Great Hall the mail arrived and she remembered the apology letter that she had sent to Snape. She hurried and took her place at the Gryffindor house table and looked casually at the staff table just in time to see Snape's letter get dropped in front of him. He looked a bit confused, but opened the letter quickly. His eyes quickly scanned the parchment and rose to search the hall. His eyes found Hermione's and he gave a quick nod, signaling that all was forgiven.

Hermione heard a loud cough from beside her to see Ginny sitting there looking glaring at her. Hermione had a smug grin on her face, knowing Ginny had seen Snape's reaction to the letter and was pissed that it had been a good reaction, god forbid. Ginny sneered at Hermione, and Hermione sneered right back at her. Ginny huffed and started eating her scrambled eggs in a violent manner. Hermione snorted at her and rolled her eyes at Ginny's behavior. Ginny sighed and finally said after about three more minutes of intense glaring and scrambled egg violence, "Listen Hermione, I am sorry that I yelled at you, it was a really dumb thing to fight over. It doesn't even matter anymore."

Hermione smiled a bit begrudgingly at Ginny then gave her a hug and said, "Oh, it's not your fault I should've thought things over better before I took any actions. I don't like Snape, I was clearly just out of my mind."

Ginny laughed and launched into a funny story about how Michael Corner tried to grope her in the common room last night, and ended with Ron hexing him so badly he had to go to see Madam Pomfrey.

--

Later that day in the common room Ginny, who had been doing her homework, looked up at Hermione and said, "Do you really not like Snape, not even a bit?"

"I don't think so," Hermione replied, "I was just temporarily insane. I think that dream I had infused something into my head."

"Oh." Said Ginny sounding a little sad.

"Why does that make you sad?" Hermione asked laughing.

"I thought I would have something funny to tease you about, but I guess not. Wait! Yes I do, you embarrassed the shit out of yourself in front of Snape! Haha, blackmail!"

Hermione laughed and went back to watching Ron and Harry play chess across the room.

After a little while Hermione got tired and bid the three of them goodnight as she went upstairs to go to sleep. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep; the past two days had left her weary and befuddled.

--

The next morning dawned bright, and Hermione went down to breakfast feeling free of the issues of the days before. At breakfast everyone was quieter than usual, they all seemed to be lost in their own thoughts.

Hermione looked at her schedule and realized that potions was the first class of the day, and it was a double lesson. She inwardly groaned at the prospect of spending two long grueling hours with her least favorite professor. She didn't want to see him, and have to be so near him and be in his presence for such a long period of time.

As the bell rang Ron and Harry sighed, obviously they didn't want to go to double potions any more than any other seventh year wanted to; all of them looked very stricken about the thought of spending so much time in the company of Professor Snape.

As they filed into the dungeon classroom and began to take their seats, Snape came stalking into the room looking furious about something. He snapped, "Get to work on the potion that is on the board. It should take you the entire class, so time yourselves carefully. I am not in the mood to be played with today, so no fooling around, no talking, no smiling. Mr.Longbottom! You are breathing much too loudly! Stop or get out of my classroom." He finished with a dangerous hiss.

"Yes Pro-pro-professor. Sorry." Neville mumbled, sounding frightened.

The class quickly began to get to work, except for Hermione who was studying Professor Snape with detail. She wasn't sure why he was so mad, but she wanted to know. No, no she didn't want to know! That asshole didn't give a crap about her, his students, or this school! She didn't care at all, she was positive he completely deserved what he was upset about. Probably something stupid, knowing him.

--

At the end of class Hermione was filled with an almost blind rage at Professor Snape. He had deducted thirty points from Gryffindor because Seamus had sneezed too loudly. For once Snape didn't do anything to Neville, but that could have been because after the first thirty minutes of class he had a mental breakdown due to Snape glaring at him so much.

The rest of the day went by with no problems, and at dinner Harry, Ron, and Hermione told Ginny all that had happened during their potions class. Ginny didn't look all that surprised by his actions, "He probably had some other _stuff,_" she shot a look at Hermione, "on his mind. I know it doesn't give him the right to act the way he did, but I wouldn't judge him too harshly. He has had a rough life being a teacher and having to deal with annoying students, not to mention he was a double agent for twenty years."

Hermione rolled her eyes and went back to eating, and once Harry and Ron went upstairs to get ready for quidditch practice Hermione asked Ginny, "Do you really think he was mad because of Saturday?"

"No, I just had to look like I had a reason in front of those two, or they would've argued about it all night long." Ginny responded.

Hermione and Ginny made their way up to the common room to do homework and when they walked into the room they were surprised to hear people telling the tales from the days earlier potions class. People were discussing why Snape had acted the way he did and maybe something that they didn't know about was going on in the wizarding or muggle world, along with many other ideas of what was going on.

After trying to work in the ruckus for nearly an hour Hermione sighed as she turned to Ginny and said, "Listen, I can barely hear myself think in here. Let's go down to the library."

Ginny nodded her head in agreement, and they both made their way down to the library to do their homework. As they walked into the library they noticed that Professor Snape was in amongst the rows of books going through them for his classes. Hermione thought it was funny that the two of them had left the common room to get away from talk of Snape only to run into the very subject of the slander.

Ginny noticed too, and poked Hermione and she grinned and nodded back. The two of them got to work quickly, sitting at a table about eight feet away from where Professor Snape was flipping through books and grumbling when he couldn't find the right book.

Hermione finished her homework quickly, now that it was nearly silent with the exception of Madam Pince restocking the bookshelves, Ginny's quill scratching on her parchment, and Snape quietly cursing from behind the bookshelves. Hermione giggled quietly as she heard him say, "Merlin's beard won't these damn authors ever get it straight? So it would seem that Wolfsbane potion allows a person with lycanthropy to become docile under the full moon. A second-year should know that! It's not some amazing discovery!" He growled as he snapped the book shut and moved to a row to the left of the table Hermione and Ginny were at. He didn't seem to notice, so Hermione watched him carefully now enthralled by his actions. He went through more books cursing the authors, saying how he could write better, how a fourth-year could write a better book, and then how a house elf could write a better book. When he declared that a house elf could write better Hermione burst out laughing, she hadn't heard a more ridiculous idea than that one.

Snape jumped and turned around to glare at her angrily, "Miss Granger, what is so amusing to you?"

"Professor, I couldn't help but to overhear your, uh, conversation with the book and I thought it was funny how you said a house elf could write better than the author did."

He didn't know what to say to that, but just then Madam Pince came over to them and said, "Girls, it's time to go back up to your common rooms, the library is closing. Severus, stay as long as you want dearie."

Hermione grabbed her bag of books and Ginny quickly grabbed her bag of books as they ran out of the library.

"Oh… my… God…" breathed Ginny, "that was by far the funniest thing I have ever seen! The look on Professor Snape's face and all the things he was mumbling to himself about! He didn't even yell at you. I have to say, Snape is definitely psycho, but in a kind of good way."

The two girls giggled wildly as they headed upstairs to their own separate dorms.

_A/N: I'm posting another chapter early, tomorrow there's no school and I'm not getting up early to post a chapter. Plus, once again I'm having some power issues even though there's nothing going on outside._

_I really appreciate the reviews, thanks everyone! I've been feeling as though my writing is a bit off lately, but just let me know what you all think. Thanks again!_


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; J.K. Rowling does, I just made up the story.

**Chapter 8**

The rest of the week passed by quickly and uneventfully and the next thing Hermione knew it was Friday night; her apprenticeship would be the next morning! She didn't really feel like going, she wanted to sleep in and not spend extra time with Professor Snape. Since the 'incident' in the library he was being a bit nicer towards Hermione and the Gryffindors in general. He only took off twenty-seven points when Neville melted his cauldron, he usually took off thirty. He also didn't make any nasty comments about Hermione's potion when he came around during their class on Thursday.

--

Saturday morning Hermione pulled on some light robes she had so there wasn't a repeat of the previous week, planned or unplanned, and she pulled her hair up into a ponytail to keep it out of her face while she was working.

At ten she knocked on the door to Professor Snape's classroom and she heard breaking glass and then a stifled, "Shit!" She pushed open the door and rushed back into his private workroom and said, "Professor, are you okay? I heard the glass break, and I came back—" she trailed off. He had his hand wrapped, and there was a broken vile on the floor.

"Thank you for your concern Miss Granger, I am fine." Snape said in a forced voice, like it was hurting him to say 'thank you'. Hermione almost laughed at this, but held it in.

"What happened Professor?"

"Oh I wasn't paying attention to the time, you knocked, I dropped the vile, and in my haste to clean it up I cut myself. I am really quite fine, no reason to worry."

Hermione just smiled and nodded at his explanation of what happened, and he said quickly, "Now today we are going to be doing very basic potions, but necessary for a nurse, doctor, potions master, or even mother. I am getting behind on stocking the potions for the infirmary so you are going to help me. We have a list of all the potions needed by next month, in two months etcetera, and then it goes up to a 6-month projection of the necessary supplies.

Hermione looked at the list he then held out to her. It wasn't too immensely long she saw and the relief must have showed on her face, because Snape then said, "Don't get happy yet Miss Granger, look at the list for October through February."

He handed her those lists as well. She rifled through them quickly. For the winter there were many potions like pepper-up potion that was for colds and such. She sighed and said, "Well we should get to work, shouldn't we?"

"Yes Miss Granger, you will do pepper-up potion, bruise balm, the three different headache relief potions, and the other minor potions on the first half of the 6-month projection sheet." He handed her a copy of the projection sheet and she groaned inwardly. There was a lot of work to be done, and she suddenly had a thought.

"Professor, do you always stock the potions for the infirmary? In addition to teaching and grading?" she asked sounding awestruck.

"Yes I do Miss Granger, now right this way before we begin with today's' work." He said going over to a door, and beckoning her to follow.

He opened the door and they both walked in and Hermione let out a small, barely audible gasp. It was the private potions storeroom that was used for Professor Snape only. It was huge, probably the size of two classrooms put together and it looked like a library, but on the shelves; there were no books, there were vials of ingredients, baskets with larger ingredients like roots, and jars of organs. Then there were two carts at the front by the door for gathering many potions at once. The room was so beautiful; it was colorful and had so many things of different sizes and colors that you weren't sure where to look first.

Snape watched Hermione as she surveyed the room with wide eyes. She clearly loved the room, as he figured she would. It had been the same way with his library as well; he was shocked to think that the two of them actually had something in common like their love for reading, or how they both loved just the way the storeroom looked. He allowed her to take in the surroundings a bit longer, and he watched her walk around the storeroom. She was just walking in between the shelves admiring the many ingredients he had to looking at a translucent white substance in one vial, to studying the heart of a unicorn.

Hermione looked over at Snape after she had gone through several of the rows, and he was studying her with a half smile on his face. She closed her eyes and reopened them, convinced she was seeing things. When she reopened her eyes it was apparent that she hadn't been imagining anything. He was still looking at her with a half-smile that made her feel uneasy. Not because it was a creepy, I-am-going-to-lock-this-door-then-rape-you kind of look, but because Snape doesn't smile, but there he was doing an almost-smile. Creepy.

He suddenly shook his head like he had been lost in thought, and said, "You now as my apprentice have access to this room and my private workroom, which is the room we just left. From now on during our Saturday lessons just come right in to the classroom and through the door behind my desk, through my living room-study, and into the workroom. No need to knock anymore."

"Wow, Thank You so much for this Professor." She said smiling at him.

He then handed her a book and said, "This has all the simple potions for the infirmary that you're doing. All the potions that are on the list are in this book. After a little while you won't need instructions anymore, but until you are positive you know the directions then do not abandon the book. I would suggest that you always have the book open and ready in case of an emergency until you have not made a single error in your potions and after much time and practice. You may now begin on the potions, it is going to take more then just today obviously, but it may also take a few nights as well so we can get all the potions in on time. We will discuss those possibilities next week, or sometime this coming week if necessary."

He went off and got his potion ingredients together. Hermione stood there for a minute in a bit of shock. Snape was not being cruel or rude at all. Given, he wasn't being friendly but Rome wasn't built in a day.

As she got to work on her potions Hermione felt herself falling into a rhythm, and found that potion making when next to Snape as opposed to being watched by him was quite relaxing. She couldn't wait until she was good enough at certain potions that she could make them without even thinking about it, then she felt potions would be very enjoyable. You wouldn't have to think much, just work, and when you moved on to more challenging potions the concentration and precision was just the type of thing Hermione enjoyed doing.

Hermione had made about nine batches of pepper-up potion and bottled them into individual doses when Professor Snape said, "Miss Granger you should be getting back to your common room now so you can get changed for dinner."

She looked at the time, it was 5:40, twenty minutes till dinner, and she quickly counted the number of vials she had. Only ninety doses, she needed 400. Snape surveyed her work as she cleaned up her work area, and put away the book that had been sitting next to her on the bench.

"Not bad for a first-timer Miss Granger. I may need to see you later on this week before Saturday, but if that's the case I will tell you after class one day." Snape said looking tired.

"Ok Professor," she said wearily, "you know, you really should get some sleep. You don't look well, like you haven't slept in a few days."

He merely nodded his head and walked out of the room, and Hermione took that as her cue to leave, and she walked up to the common room and went up to change and when she came back down Ginny was waiting for her, as though she had expected her to be there.

"Hey how was it?" she asked before Hermione could say anything.

"Oh, it was good. He wasn't mean, he wasn't nice, we brewed potions and then he dismissed me." She said not really wanting to go into great detail about what he had showed her. She felt almost as though he had never really shown anyone that storeroom before and that it was something special to him. Also, she thought that by him showing her the room it was like gaining a bit of his respect and she didn't want to just throw that away, after what she did the previous week.

Ginny just answered her by saying, "Oh…" in a sad voice almost as though she had wished something interesting would happen. Hermione laughed and the two of them headed downstairs to dinner together.

--

_A/N: Sorry this chapter is shorter than usual! I don't think there's a whole lot to say.. please read & review! Thanks everyone!_


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; J.K. Rowling does, I just made up the story.

**Chapter 9**

During potions class on Wednesday as the bell rang Snape said to Hermione, "Miss Granger please come see me after class." She knew immediately it was about the infirmary potions, after all he had said he would talk to her after class one day about it if there would be any changes, so she figured that this was it.

She hung behind as all the other students filed out of the room and Snape said to her, "Miss Granger we need to fill the September and October list by Sunday, I need you to come in tomorrow night, Friday night, and Saturday to come help. If you have homework, I can write you a note and excuse you from it. Your grade will not be lowered, I assure you."

"Ok Professor, what time should I be here tomorrow at?" she asked.

"Seven o clock?"

"Ok, see you then Professor." She said as she walked out of the room.

--

The next night she walked into his classroom, through his study, and into his workroom to find him already working away on the infirmary potions. He looked up when she entered and nodded his head to acknowledge her presence and she sat herself down on the bench he was on and got all of the necessary ingredients and began to work away on the potions. After a few hours she had finished with the pepper-up potion and they were all bottled up and ready to go.

She looked over next to her and where Professor Snape should have been, and all there was a note where he should have been. She had been so wrapped up in the potion she hadn't noticed him leaving the room. The note simply said:

_Miss Granger,_

_Albus has called me to his office for a brief meeting; it should not take long. Please feel free to go if you wish. I will see you tomorrow at 7 pm if you do not finish tonight._

_Severus Snape_

Hermione smiled at the note, and decided to get upstairs to finish her homework. She only had about an hour of homework left which put her in bed at midnight. Not too late to ask for a note from Professor Snape.

--

The next day went by quickly and Hermione finished her weekend homework just in time for dinner where Ginny asked her, "Hermione I didn't see you come back from Professor Snape's last night and you weren't at breakfast, when did you get back?"

"Oh, I came back about 11 last night, then did homework till midnight. I am going back tonight at seven, there's still a lot more to be done." Hermione answered hurriedly.

"Isn't he putting a bit too much stress on you? You've been his apprentice, what, almost three weeks now and you're already doing overtime," Ginny said sounding concerned.

"No," Hermione answered sounding almost sad, "He teaches, grades papers, makes lesson plans, and he stocks the infirmary with all of the potions, balms, and more complicated remedies. He has a lot of work and I guess he got behind and now Madam Pomfrey needs the supplied for September and October by Sunday."

"Wow, I had no idea he did all of that for the school. I thought he just did the normal 'teacher' thing. Must be hard work, no wonder he's so stressed out all of the time, I would hate doing that." Ginny said matching Hermione's concerned tone.

"I gotta go now, it's a quarter till seven, don't wait up for me; there's so much to do I doubt I'll be back by midnight actually," Hermione said rushing out of the Great Hall.

--

All night Hermione and Snape sat side by side not talking, just working on the potions, seeing as they had so much to do by Sunday. At 11 that night Hermione saw Professor Dumbledore floo into the workroom and motion for Professor Snape to come talk with him in his study. Hermione kept working but tried to listen in, but could only hear muffled voices beyond the closed study door. Professor Snape strode into the room and said sharply, "Miss Granger, I have some quick business to attend to. I assume you will be fine here on your own."

"Yes Professor I will be fine," she paused not sure if she should ask him a question, he seemed a bit irritated at whatever Dumbledore had told him, "how long will you be gone for?"

He looked taken aback that she had asked him a question, he was feared and therefore never asked questions and he responded, "I should definitely be back by one in the morning. Leave when you see fit." He finished and swept out of the room.

Hermione continued to work and the next time she glanced up at the clock it was 2:30 am. She let out a huge sigh and realized that Snape definitely hadn't come back yet; he would've come and said _something _to her. She went over to the door she assumed was his bedroom and pushed it open lightly to see if he was indeed back.

Hermione smiled as she walked into his room, it was beautiful but oddly fit Severus. Severus? When had she begun to think of him in first name terms? She walked further into his room and surveyed the room. There was a four-poster canopy bed that had a Slytherin green duvet and pillows. There was a fireplace in his bedroom too, and there was one large bookshelf, she supposed that was filled with his favorite books. Then two black leather armchairs were by the bookshelf and fireplace that made a gorgeous sitting area. There was another door to the left of the bed, which she guess led into his bathroom. She quickly left so that if he returned she wouldn't get into huge trouble being caught in his bedroom. She giggled at the thought of that and walked back out into the workroom and pulled his bedroom door shut behind her.

She walked into the study without thinking and lay down on the couch, and the next thing she knew she was fast asleep.

--

Snape flooed into his study at 3 in the morning, two hours after he said he would be back. He assumed Hermione had already gone to bed, and he went into the workroom just to make sure. Nothing was cleaned up, very unlike her. He sighed and walked back into the study and jumped as he saw her sleeping form on his couch. He wasn't sure to do; he supposed he should just leave her there. She looked dead asleep and he didn't want to wake her up. He decided that he should just leave her there, seeing as her apprenticeship was the next morning. No point in waking her now.

--

Hermione woke feeling confused. She couldn't remember where she was or how she had gotten there. After she looked around wildly for a minute she realized where she was. She was on Snape's couch in his private quarters. She giggled a little bit, thinking about the expression on Ron and Harry's faces if they knew where she was. She looked at the clock up on the mantel and saw it said 11. She sighed and pulled a blanket off of herself. A blanket? Snape must've put it on her once he flooed back.

She stretched and walked into the workroom to see Snape working away on more potions. He looked up when she walked in and said, "I never thought you would be up. You can go wash up in the bathroom, it's right through there." He pointed to his bedroom door. She nodded her head and went into his bedroom. The room was even more beautiful in the daytime. It had a surprising amount of sunlight despite the fact it was in the dungeons, and the sunlight that came streaming in through the windows on the right side of the bed made the green duvet give off a bit of a sparkle and the leather chairs were probably warm from the early-morning sun that had been shining on them.

She walked over to the door that she assumed was the bathroom, and she pushed the door open to find a simple but quite pretty bathroom. Snape was quite the decorator, the bathroom was a simple white but there were deep blue towels and rugs on the cold stone floor that made the bathroom feel peaceful. She used her finger to brush toothpaste onto her teeth, used the toilet, and fixed her hair which had gotten messy during her sleep on the couch.

As she walked back out into the workroom she could've sworn she saw Snape almost-smile again. He really needed to stop, it was kind of freaky. He silently handed her the list and she scanned down the list to see what was left. The parchment automatically checked off what the two of them had completed and she saw she only had about four batches left of her last potion for the two months. She quickly set to work on the last four batches but midway through the second one her stomach gave a loud grumble, she hadn't eaten anything since dinner the night before. Snape looked up and said, "Oh, of course. You haven't eaten yet." And then snapped his fingers and a house elf came into the room with a sandwich for her, which she quickly ate and got back to work on the last one and a half batches of the potion she had to do.

After she was done making all four batches a few hours later she bottled them all up and walked into Professor Snape's study to bid him goodbye. He had finished about an hour earlier than she did. He nodded at her walking into his room and he asked, "You finished then?"

"Yes Professor, I finished all of the ones you told me to do. Are there any other ones I can do for you?" Hermione asked kindly.

"No, I have the Wolfsbane potion for Lupin but that can wait. Thank you very much for your help this weekend. You best be getting back, its already seven. You have been gone for a day, your friends are probably very worried about you." Snape answered.

"No problem Professor, see you in class on… Tuesday?"

"Yes, Tuesday. Have a good weekend Miss Granger."

--

As Hermione walked into the Gryffindor common room she immediately got attacked by three people hugging her and screaming wildly.

"We thought you were dead!" shouted Ginny.

"I thought you got raped," Ron said seriously.

Harry just gave Hermione another hug and Hermione laughed at Ron's comment. "No nothing like that happened. I was working late into this morning, and I fell asleep on his couch, then I woke up and went back to work."

Ginny sighed and said, "Hermione you had us so scared,especially when you didn't show up at breakfast, but Snape did briefly. All he did was say something to Dumbledore then leave again in a rush. You must have still been asleep and didn't want to leave you there."

"Yeah, must've been that," Hermione said in response to Ginny's comment, "He does have a heart, he even put a blanket over me."

"Wow, Snape has a heart. Shocking." Ginny said in mock surprise.

"So it would seem…" Hermione thought out loud, and trailed off without finishing the rest of her thought.

--

_A/N: Hey guys, another update for you! Please read & review. Any questions will be responded through e-mail or my livejournal (the link is in my profile). Thanks!_


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; J.K. Rowling does, I just made up the story.**

**The Truth Behind Secrets & Lies**

**Chapter 10**

On Monday morning Hermione woke feeling refreshed and ready for the school week. When she walked downstairs into the common room she saw Harry and Ron already dressed and discussing something quietly in the chairs by the fire quietly. She walked over to them and stopped dead when she head Ron say quietly, "Do you honestly think that her and Snape are only working on potions during all those hours they've spent together?"

Harry looked somewhat shocked by Ron's question and answered him by saying, "Do you really think that Snape is that type of guy? I don't, he seems trustworthy and pleasant enough even if that is stretching it a bit. Not to mention, Hermione isn't the type of person to do that, and if anything were forced then she would see Dumbledore about it. Come on, you've got to know Hermione better than that Ron."

"I know," Ron replied, sighing deeply, "I just get worried she spent almost thirty hours with him from Thursday to Saturday with him."

"Well, she is his apprentice. It's really a great opportunity for her, you need to see that Ron. From what she's said maybe Snape isn't so bad after all, he does have something of a façade to keep up in front of students." Harry said sounding as though he didn't believe that Snape could be a nice person, but was trying to convince Ron of it.

Hermione didn't want to hear anymore either; she couldn't believe the nerve of Ron! Why would he even think of Hermione or Snape like that? She acted like she had just walked up and said really loudly, "Oh, hey you two already up?"

The two boys quickly straightened up and looked immensely guilty. Hermione was just as embarrassed as them after what Ron had accused her and Snape of.

--

The next week went by with no incidents having to do with Snape, who appeared to be in his normal mood. Not too nice and not too rude. Hermione was grateful for this so that Ron and Harry had nothing to rant about, or reasons to think Hermione was the source of any too 'nicey-nicey' behavior.

On Thursday Harry and Ron's conversation was bothering her so much that she decided to talk to Ginny about what she had heard. After she told Ginny quietly about the whole thing in the corner of the common room Ginny sat there looking unsure of what to say to Hermione and then she suddenly cleared her throat, "Hermione, I am going to be completely honest with you because you are my best friend. I do think the amount of time you two are spending together is a bit odd. It is true that you are his apprentice, and therefore it is your job to help him and I understand what your responsibilities are. Ron and Harry, they're very protective of you; I wouldn't do anything about what they said until they confront you about it. Until that happens, don't worry about it, it's too much extra stress."

Hermione sighed gratefully and realized that she had been stressing way too much over what Ron said; it was no big deal. "Thanks Gin, I'll see you later, okay?"

--

Snape woke up early Tuesday morning in a cold sweat, what had he been dreaming about? Oh Gods, he remembered. Hermione Granger, his apprentice, his student, one of the golden trio. It had been no ordinary dream. The two of them had been together—sexually. He shuddered as he lay back down on his pillows too nervous to fall back asleep. What if he had more dreams? He wouldn't mind, but he was her teacher. He emptied his mind, set on falling fast asleep.

The next morning Snape woke up feeling like something was off. He couldn't quite place his finger on what the feeling was that was welling up deep inside his throat. He shook it off and went to shower and prepare for his classes.

Throughout the day Snape managed to ignore the odd feeling he had in his throat. That was until the Gryffindors came in for his last class of the day and he saw Hermione walk in. He felt a lurch in his stomach and remembered his dream. Once the class got settled he quickly got them set up, and walked into his private study so he could think in private.

He sighed after several minutes of frantic pacing. He realized that the dream meant nothing. You could not control who was in your dreams or what the two of you did in your dreams. Nor did Hermione know about the dream so it did not matter in the least.

He walked back out into the classroom, feeling much more composed and stalked up and down the aisles and barking orders at the students. Once they were dismissed Snape slumped into his chair in relief and mused out loud, "I am finally rid of that troublesome girl."

--

At dinner Ron gasped and said, "Oh! Did you guys notice that when the three of us walked into the room Snape got a kind of green tinge to his face and as soon as he started class he left the room for a bit?"

Harry laughed, "Yeah, I noticed his face. It _did _look a bit green, like he was going to be sick or something."

Ginny rolled her eyes and Hermione answered, "Ha, yeah he was probably sick of _us_ or something. He is so inexplicably bizarre to be honest with you guys. He has horrendous mood swings. Probably bi-polar."

Harry snorted into his pudding and Ron nodded in agreement; his mouth was full of mashed potatoes so he couldn't answer.

--

Wednesday's potions class was unbearably dull. Snape wasn't even yelling at them, just grading papers and scowling at the class every once in a while. Ron, obviously, noticed Snape's odd behavior and commented to Hermione, "You know, Snape seems off today. We should send him a card."

"Shut up, Ron." Hermione said, but couldn't help herself from snickering loudly. She had been picturing a card with a bear on the front hugging a heart and on the inside it saying, 'Get Well Soon! Love, Harry, Ron, & Hermione your favorite Gryffindors'.

Snape looked up sharply at Hermione's laughing and she quickly choked back her giggles and gulped loudly. "Miss Granger, see me after class." Snape said.

Hermione sighed; he didn't even yell he said it so calmly. What an odd man, he really was off today.

Once the bell rung Hermione stayed behind to talk to Snape. He seemed to have completely forgotten he asked her to stay because she cleared her throat and he jumped a mile.

"Oh, right Miss Granger, I wanted to speak with you," he said recovering quickly. "Come back here with me," he walked into his private study, "Here is the list of infirmary supplies until midterms. If you look, there are a lot of needed supplies by mid-December. I was thinking of making a few extra meetings per week to meet the needs of Madam Pomfrey. Also, I have some new requirements for you to meet as my apprentice."

Hermione nodded excitedly, "Of course Professor, that would be great."

"Okay, I might be having to take off some time to attend a conference, which is odd I know, but a conference for Potions masters everywhere. Now, Dumbledore is still deciding whether you would take over my classes or whether you would go with me."

Hermione nodded, and then asked, "If I was to do either of those, my main concern would be schoolwork."

"Ah, well your professors I am sure wouldn't mind excusing you, giving it to you ahead of time, or giving you extra time once you get back to do all of your schoolwork."

"Okay, that would be wonderful Professor. What about the extra work sessions? I see there is a lot of work to be done in two and a half months."

"I say we just do weekends, and maybe one other day during the week, Friday nights at seven, Saturday at 10, and Wednesday at 7. Will those days work for you?"

"Yes, Professor those will work wonderfully for me."

She gathered her books to leave but Snape stopped her and said thoughtfully, "Miss Granger, do not come tonight, the Wednesday night sessions will start next week. I will see you Friday at seven."

"Wonderful." Hermione said shortly, and left his classroom.

--

Later that night in the common room after Hermione had finished telling Ginny, Harry, and Ron about the new arrangements Ron said indignantly, "Mione! He is over-working you, I know before you said that it was just because of the circumstances but this is completely overboard. Three nights a week, two of which are weekend nights. This is ridiculous Hermione."

"No it's not Ron, I am his apprentice. Apprentices are supposed to grade papers, help their teacher with extra potions, and teach classes when they are unable to. The only one I have done so far is help with potions. Snape helps out an extraordinary amount around Hogwarts, and for 20 years he has been working very hard at many things, and I am sure it is a relief to actually sleep some nights now." Hermione finished sounding frustrated.

"Hermione is right," Ginny said, "She agreed to be his apprentice, she could have said no to him. This is a wonderful opportunity for her too, there are so many jobs that would love to see something like this on it and Hermione deserves this opportunity. Stop being ungrateful just because you don't like Snape, and be happy for her already."

Ron looked over at Harry for some support, but Harry became oddly interested in a string hanging off of his robe and didn't look at Ron.

"Fine," said Ron, "Hermione I am happy for you, I guess I'm just blind when it comes to Snape, everything that involves him is evil."

Harry snorted at Ron's comment, but quickly changed it to a cough and said, "Wow, there must be a nasty cold going around." And got up from where they were sitting to go get a tissue.

Ginny laughed and turned to Hermione, "Well I am going to have to hang out with you more during the week cause you're getting so busy during the weekends."

Hermione smiled and said, "Yeah, I know, I am glad you understand my predicament with this. Ron and Harry just don't get it."

Ginny was about to respond, but Professor McGonagall walked into the common room and glanced around as though looking for someone, then she spotted Hermione and she walked over to her and said, "Miss Granger Professor Dumbledore wants to see you in his office immediately, here's the password to his office too." She handed Hermione a piece of paper and walked off without another word.

--

_A/N: Wow everyone, I am so sorry that I didn't update last Sunday. I was really busy and got completely sidetracked! If I don't update and didn't tell you about it the week before please e-mail me or something because I am so forgetful. Thanks everyone, here's another chapter for you! I will try to update my LJ soon!_


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; J.K. Rowling does, I just made up the story.

**Chapter 11**

"Well, that was odd," Hermione mused. "Well I better go, it sounds important."

Hermione gathered up her books so she wouldn't lose them in case the meeting with Dumbledore took longer than she thought it would. She waved goodbye to Ginny and Harry, who were playing chess and Ron as well who was sitting watching the game. Hermione could've sworn he muttered something about 'being an evil git'.

Once she got to Dumbledore's office door, she knocked tentatively and heard a soft "Enter" from within the room. She opened the door and walked in, curious to see what he so keenly wished to talk to her about.

"Here," Professor Dumbledore began, "Sit down and make yourself comfortable. Lemon drop?"

"Oh, no thank you Professor." Hermione answered politely. She really just wanted to know what was _so_ urgent.

"Right, well on with this meeting then. Now, I am not sure if Professor Snape has informed you or not but there is going to be a Potions Convention in two weeks time in which Severus is obliged to attend. There are two things you can do to help him out. One, you could go to the convention with him. You could learn a great deal and see what it is like to go to one of those events. Or, number two, you can stay behind and teach his classes during the several days he will be gone. First off I wanted to know if you were greatly inclined to one option over the other? Severus and I have discussed this issue at great detail and we came up with an amicable solution, but I wanted to be sure you were not greatly opposed to either action."

Hermione thought for a minute about the pros and cons of each, and either way she would be missing her classes so she asked, "What about my classes? If I teach or go with Professor Snape I will be missing work."

"I am sure you will be allowed to take some with you or make it up accordingly."

"That will work wonderfully then, and no I am not strongly opposed to either. They both sound like wonderful opportunities and would love to do either."

"Wonderful," Dumbledore stood up and stretched and walked over to stand next to the fireplace, "Severus and I thought it would be best for your schooling and apprentice work if you were to go with him to the Convention. You would learn a lot and if you get started now I bet you could finish most of your homework before you leave."

Hermione was shocked and excited. This opportunity was an amazing one and she couldn't wait to see what a Potions Convention was going to be like. "Oh, thank you so much! This is so wonderful, I can't wait till Professor Snape and I get to go!"

Dumbledore chuckled quietly, "Yes, be sure to thank Severus when you next see him which I suppose should be within the next couple of days. You can get all the information from him about where you will be going, what you will be doing and that type of thing. I would speak to your teachers by the weekend to get your work."

"Okay, thank you!"

As Hermione made her way back to the Gryffindor common room she suddenly had a wonderful idea. She was going to go visit Professor Snape right then so that she could pester him and find out everything about the convention.

She just walked into his classroom and into his study, not bothering to knock. She _was_ his apprentice and had access to all of his rooms. She looked around the study and not seeing him there she peeked into the workroom and storeroom. They were both out of use, which could only mean one thing. He was in his bedroom. That was one place Hermione knew she wasn't supposed to be. The door was open about a foot and she could see light dancing on the wall opposite where she knew the fireplace to be. He was clearly in there. She ducked her head around the door. She imagined she looked quite foolish if anyone were to see her. She was on her tiptoes with her feet just outside where the bedroom "started" and she was leaning in with just her eyes and nose sticking out above the door. She probably looked something like a mouse.

Then she heard behind her someone say "Ahem" and she fell right onto her face in Snape's room. She groaned as she rolled over to see who had 'ahem'-ed so loudly. She wasn't hurt; just her nose felt a bit sore. As she looked up at the person towering above her she saw it was Professor Snape.

He just stood there for a while looking down at her and she laid there looking back up at him. For a split second she thought she saw Snape about to burst out laughing. It was really funny; she was lying on the floor with him above her with a fairly indifferent look upon his face. One of those awkward moments you really don't know what to do or say during.

After a few more moments of the awkward silence Professor Snape took a step back and extended his hand to her to help her get up. She took it graciously and dusted off her robes and looked at Snape who was eyeing her with what could not be mistaken as anything else, admiration. Probably no other student had dared to do such as she had.

"Oh, Professor?" Hermione said timidly.

"Yes Miss Granger?" Snape said. He did not sound in the least angry. He sounded amused, very amused. Maybe too amused.

"Was it _honestly_ that funny? You sound very… amused." Hermione said contemptuously. She didn't mind being messed around with, but when it was her sullen Potions teacher something felt fishy.

"Yes, Miss Granger it was quite funny. I clear my throat and you fall flat over and when you rolled yourself over and saw who had been behind you, you reminded me a great deal of a goldfish."

Hermione snorted, she did have the tendency to look like a goldfish, or any fish for that matter, when she was shocked.

"So Miss Granger, is there a reason you decided to come see me or were you just here to muck around in my things?"

"Oh, no, no, no Professor! I did not want to muck around at all, it would be completely improper of me to do that. You don't certainly think that at all, not one bit and you know wha—"

Snape cut her off before she could continue. "Please Miss Granger, I was only joking. I know you are not used to it but I thought even you would recognize a joke when you heard one. You are dear friends to the Weasley's after all."

Oh. A joke. Severus Snape did not tell jokes though. He was a sarcastic, cruel, callow, potions master. A damn good potions master. With an even better ass. She shook her head, why in Gods name was she thinking things like that when he was standing _right there_? He was also an amazing legilimens; she should just stop thinking altogether.

Snape cleared his throat and watched Hermione's facial expressions. It went from one of confusion, to a half-smile that looked goofy, then she looked shocked, and she quickly changed her expression to one of complete neutrality.

He rolled his eyes and tried yet again to find out what Hermione had come to see him for. "Miss Granger, what did you come here for? I am sure it was not to fall flat on your face."

"Oh, yes professor. I just talked to Professor Dumbledore and I was curious about all the times and such for the convention. I wanted to speak to all of my teachers as soon as possible about what I am going to be missing so I can get all of my work."

"Of course. All of next week we will be here at the castle, but then the week after we are going to leave right after breakfast on Wednesday. That is two weeks from today. We will be back in time for your classes on Monday. We should be back anytime between late Friday and early Sunday, depending on sessions and such."

"Where is the convention, Professor?"

"It's in Bristol."

"Bristol in England, Connecticut, or Pennsylvania?"

Snape rolled his eyes; this girl sure knew her geography. "Bristol, England. The next convention in Bristol, Pennsylvania isn't for another 70 years."

"Oh, alright. I was just checking."

"So it would seem. Is there anything else Miss Granger?"

"No Professor I don't think so."

He nodded and walked her to the classroom door; "I will see you Friday night at 7, will I not?"

Hermione nodded and walked back up to the Gryffindor common room before she decided to fall into someone else's private chambers.

When she got up to the common room she was surprised to see most people were still awake. "Why are you all still up? Shouldn't you be in bed or something?" Hermione inquired.

"…no" Ginny said, "It's only 9:30 Hermione."

She felt like she had left hours ago, but really she had left two hours ago.

"Oh, I thought it was much later. Oh well."

"So," Ron said, "What did Dumbledore want to talk to you about anyways? Lemon drops?"

Hermione ignored the corny 'joke' Ron had made and told the three of them about how she was going to a Potions Convention with Professor Snape in two weeks.

Harry and Ginny looked excited for Hermione, but of course Ron looked confused. "But… but… what about school?"

"I already told you _Ronald_. I already have something set up, stop worrying."

Ron shrugged and went back to playing chess with Harry.

Ginny motioned Hermione over to a secluded corner of the common room. "Come on Hermione I know that meeting with Professor Dumbledore did not take you two whole hours. That probably took you thirty minutes, maybe. Where else did you go?"

Hermione laughed at her best friends enthusiasm and told her everything that happened in Snape's rooms.

Ginny was laughing hysterically at the end of her story. "Did he _really_ just stand there over you? How completely awkward was that? Hahahaha that is so entertaining. Also, he told a joke. How completely unexpected, huh?

Hermione laughed and said, "Yeah, I think he is starting to not be a callous bastard so much around me. Maybe he finally realized he had a huge stick up his ass and removed it."

"Ha, I doubt it. He probably was half drunk and it took him long enough to realize who you were!"

The girls both exploded with laughter at the thought of Snape drunk.

After a few minutes both of their laughter had subsided and Ginny said suddenly, "Ooh, I cannot wait to pick out your clothes for the convention!"

"Try robes Ginny, I am never wearing muggle clothes again around Professor Snape."

"Oh come on Hermione, live a little!"

"Ugh, I will make a compromise. I am going to ask Professor Snape what type of clothing I should bring and will be expected to wear as his apprentice."

"Fine, fine. Good enough for me." Ginny said, defeated.

Hermione laughed and said, "Well, I am going to go up to bed. I really need to catch up on my sleep, the past couple of weeks are finally starting to catch up with me." She raised her eyebrows suggestively and Ginny swatted at her and said, "Get off to bed, you whore!"

Ron and Harry turned to stare at the both of them before both the girls burst out laughing yet again. Hermione bounded up the stairs to her dorm so that Harry and Ron would not start questioning Hermione and Ginny about what she had just said.

As Hermione lay down in her bed she thought back over the past couple of weeks and decided that as much of a pain as they were she had enjoyed every bit of it and couldn't wait until she could go to the potions convention with Professor Snape. It would be something like a vacation. A vacation with… Snape. She would have burst out laughing if she wasn't so tired. Next thing she knew she was deep asleep, dreaming about the convention.

--

_A/N: Here's the next chapter, and I hope to get chapter 12 up by Wednesday and I'm currently working on chapter 16. I still have to get 14 and 15 betaed, so there might be a bit of a wait after 13. Thanks everyone! _


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; J.K. Rowling does, I just made up the story.

**Chapter 12**

The next two weeks went by quickly for Hermione who had been working extra hard on getting all of her homework done before she left and on getting all of her stuff getting packed up. She had gone to see Professor Snape like Ginny had asked, and he said to bring muggle clothes in case they wanted to go out some night and robes for the conventions. Black and dark green only, no Hogwarts insignia on it. Hermione had no robes like that so Professor Snape kindly gave her a set of beautiful slim-fitting robes that were plain black. He said that the slimness was for potion making so that the hems of the robes would not disrupt any cauldrons that they were working on.

On Tuesday night Hermione went through her trunk one more time to make sure she had everything. Her clothes were all laid out neatly for the next day and everything was neatly set out. Hermione went to bed a bit earlier than usual, seeing as she was unsure of how they were traveling to Bristol. They might have been apparating, but maybe they might be taking the train and she didn't want to risk falling asleep while in the company of Professor Snape. He might use the time to have another 'joke'. She almost laughed aloud at the thought of Snape doing something like putting shaving cream on her open hand and then tickling her nose with a quill to make her get shaving cream all over her face. She would be very frightened indeed if he did that to her.

--

The next morning she went downstairs early with her shrunken bags in her pockets so that she could carry them down to the dungeons with ease; she walked into the classroom as usual and into the study and decided not to go any further into his private chambers. She did not know if he was grumpy in the mornings so she merely took her bags out of her pockets and put them back to normal size and she turned around to go back upstairs to finish her morning routine before eating breakfast.

Once Ginny was ready the two of them headed down to breakfast together and they both ate laughing and talking like usual. For some reason Hermione felt almost as though she was leaving for a very long time even though it was only three to five days she was really going to be gone. As soon as she finished Harry and Ron sat down at the table. "Oh no, Mione! You leaving now?" Ron asked, his mouth full of food.

Hermione gave him a disgusted look and said, "Yes, I told Professor Snape I was going to come down right after breakfast. I don't know how far we're traveling. I don't even know how we're getting to the convention."

Ron suddenly said, "Whoa Hermione, those robes. They look tight… on you… and uh… nice."

Hermione whacked him upside the head, "Ron, you're like my brother stop it."

He muttered a quick apology and went back to endlessly shoving food into his mouth. After five more minutes of gossiping with Ginny she said, "Listen guys, I have to go now. I put it off as long as I could to spare you the heartbreak of me leaving."

The boys didn't even look up and just nodded their heads. Hermione huffed as she pushed away from the table and said, "Well Ginny I know that you love me so I will see you on Saturday or Sunday!"

As Hermione got up from the table she felt herself being enveloped by two sets of arms and She turned around to see Harry and Ron who were practically suffocating her. The three of them exchanged goodbyes and she waved bye to Ginny one more time.

She got down to the dungeons and saw Snape was sitting at his desk reading a book. Ooh, he had his glasses on. How cute. She smiled at him as he looked up at her, and then he nodded back at her. She sat down in one of the armchairs and picked up a book and began to read it until Professor Snape stood up and said, "Time to go Miss Granger."

She nodded and re-shrunk her bags into her pockets. The two of them left Hogwarts silently and she followed just behind Professor Snape until they got to a muggle train station and they both boarded the train and sat down next to each other. Hermione asked Snape, "How long will it take to get to Bristol from here, Professor?"

Snape sat for a moment as though thinking then he answered, "I think it should take approximately four hours. Also, I think it would be best if you called me Severus while on this trip."

Hermione smiled and said, "Then I suppose you should call me Hermione."

He looked surprised at her remark, and then nodded as he pulled out a muggle novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Severus stopped before he opened the book and pulled another book from his bag, Ender's Game. He handed it to Hermione who graciously accepted it, as she had no muggle material to read during the train ride.

The ride was silent, but a comfortable silence. It did not feel awkward at all. The two of them next to each other, reading in silence felt so natural. Almost like it was supposed to be that way. Hermione watched Severus read. His long and strong fingers tapped the cover of the book lightly as he read. When he turned the page his eyes never left the page, he had a constant gaze upon the page. Hermione began to study Severus' face; while he read he had a bemused expression upon his face as though the book was kidding with him. His expression changed often though, he would switch from looking concerned to confused to a look of complete and utter exasperation at what the author was writing. She even saw him smirk a few times. Hermione suddenly snapped out of the reverie she had been in while looking at Severus. She had no idea how long she had been looking at him, but she didn't want to get caught staring at him. She went back to reading 'Ender's Game' and got lost in the book.

After about two hours an old couple sat down across from the two of them. During the two hours Hermione had slowly shifted herself to have her head rested on Severus' arm while she was reading. At first he had looked at her with a confused look, and acted as though he was going to move away, but he never had. He had even relaxed and they were sort of leaning into each other. Hermione saw the old woman's eyes glaze over with happiness at the sight of them. Hermione almost snickered. She apparently thought they were dating or married. About twenty minutes after the couple got onto the train the old lady said, "Oh, you dears! How long have you two been together?"

Severus looked up sharply and his look actually softened as he saw the old lady there. Hermione prayed that he wouldn't give her a harsh answer. Severus looked at Hermione to answer the question, and she blushed. "Go on Hermione, you can tell her how long we've been dating."

She almost laughed, Severus was so different now, it was amazing. She wondered what always made him so bi-polar, but she hadn't figured it out yet. "Oh, we've been dating about a year now."

Severus looked down at her shocked that she had answered. He covered up his shock well by saying, "Wow, a year already. Time sure flies by."

The old lady then smiled and said, "Oh, that is just so lovely. Would you like a cookie?"

Hermione snorted, wondering if she was serious. "No thank you, stomach problems. Motion sickness, you see." Severus answered politely. Politely?

About two stops later the old lady shook her husband awake and bade them good luck and farewell.

"Why did you go along with it Severus?"

Severus was shocked by her question and that she had actually called him Severus. It sounded nice to hear, not many women said his name. Besides Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall. He shrugged and said, "Well if I said I was really your professor she would ask what school you attended and what I taught and why in God's name were we so close to each other."

"Oh, good point. I was just curious, you're not one to go along with things like that."

"No, I am not am I?" Severus mused aloud.

The rest of the train went by in silence. Hermione was no longer leaning on Severus, but she was shifted more towards him than towards the front. She sighed contentedly; amazed that only 3 ½ hours had gone by. She felt as though she had been gone from Hogwarts for days already.

Severus watched Hermione as she looked out the window.

Why had he gone along with what the old lady said, besides the fact that it had made the most sense at the time? No, the real question was not why he had gone along with it; it was why had he allowed her to rest on him? He should not have allowed her to he was a teacher, her teacher. They were on a school-related trip too! He continued to watch her as she looked out the window. She was very pretty; her hair was up in a ponytail and from the elastic that was in her hair soft ringlets spilled down onto her back. He could see half on her face, and the light spilling in from outside brought out her eyes. They were a dark brown that sparkled when the light hit them.

He quickly broke his gaze from her as she turned from the window. He pretended as though he had been gazing out at the land that was flying by and to cover up his staring even more he commented, "Beautiful, hmm?"

Hermione giggled at Severus' comment, he had just said 'beautiful', God if only Harry and Ron were there to hear it.

"What is so damn funny?" Snape asked forcefully, although he didn't sound mad.

"You said beautiful," stated Hermione as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Snape rolled his eyes as the train slowly came to a stop. A voice overheard said, "We are now arriving in Bristol. Please get all luggage from overhead storage racks. Thank you very much and have a wonderful day."

The two of them gathered up their trunks and dragged them off the train and onto the platform. Severus beckoned her to follow him and they walked through the train station. He casually leaned on a wall next to the Starbucks and motioned for Hermione to follow suit. She casually leaned against the wall too and they fell through the wall into a place that Hermione had never seen before.

--

_A/N: Here's another chapter, please read and review. Thanks!_


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; J.K. Rowling does, I just made up the story.

**Chapter 13**

Hermione looked around at her new surroundings, they were on a busy street that looked like it was in a wizarding city. Severus grabbed her arm and pulled her down the block to get her out of the way of all the people.

"You must stay alert in the city Miss Granger! Pretend like you're in some muggle city and act as though you would there." Severus said absent mindedly, glancing up and down the streets.

Hermione looked all around her, taken aback by the city. It wasn't very much like a muggle city because there were no skyscrapers with office buildings. Not to mention the apothecary, magical animal shops, and a wand shop just down the street.

Severus watched Hermione admire the city of Pulchrit, which is a sub-city of Bristol. Pulchrit is a wizarding city, one of the only ones across the Atlantic. It was a gorgeous city, nothing like any muggle city he knew of, it had no tall buildings or large transportation vehicles. The magical cities were more like Diagon Alley, but in a larger magnitude than that.

He beckoned for Hermione to follow him, and she quickly snapped to attention and the two of them wound through many streets and he nodded greeting to several old friends he passed by on the street. After navigating the streets with Hermione following behind him closely he stopped in front of a large building with revolving doors and was probably the tallest building in the whole of Pulchrit. He looked over quickly as he heard Hermione gasp as she saw the building.

She asked, "Is this where we will be staying? Or is this where the conferences and meetings will be taking place? Is this the highest building in the city?"

Severus raised an eyebrow at her questions. He calmly answered, "Yes, yes, yes. Now keep moving, head on inside so we can check in."

Hermione glared at him jokingly, "Severus getting annoyed of my endless questions already?"

"No, not yet. I will tire of them soon, so if I were you I would limit myself," he answered with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Hermione stood behind Severus as he was talking to the person at the reception desk that was handling their reservations. She wasn't really paying much attention to what they were saying when she heard Severus' voice get louder as he was talking to the man at the desk, "What do you mean the room has only one bed? Who made the reservations for Severus Snape, that's S-E-V-E-R-U-S S-N-A-P-E, Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, ringing a bell yet?"

"Y-y-yes sir," the man at the desk sounded frightened at Severus' outburst, "an 'Albus Dumbledore' was the one who called in and made the reservations for you and you're—" He paused, looking unsure if he should continue, "and you're wife. That was what he said to me."

"That crackpot old fool!" shouted Severus angrily. Hermione sighed and stepped up to the desk. "Young man, do you by any chance have any extra rooms with two beds or a bed or a bed and a couch?"

"No ma'am. We are completely booked till Sunday morning because of the convention."

"Okay, well thank you for all your help. Sorry for the trouble, we will be heading up now." Hermione said rolling her eyes at Severus.

When they got up to their room Hermione started getting things in order. The room was gorgeous, and as the boy at the counter had said, only one bed. She grimaced at the thought of having to be in the same bed as Severus. He was a nice man in theory, but the thought of too much time and too much proximity was disgusting. The room was done in red and yellow. Almost Gryffindor colors, and she laughed when she saw Severus standing in the center of the room in his black and green looking very—Slytherin amidst the Gryffindor colors. He looked like he was going to be sick from the red and yellow everywhere.

Hermione walked into the bathroom and was pleased to find it was large. Then she realized that they were going to have to share a bathroom as well as a bed. They may as well get married, they had been traveling for less than eight hours now and they had to fake going out with each other, fake being married, and in less than 24-hours they were going to have to sleep with each other (literally), and share a bathroom. With her potions master, professor, and most hated teacher in all of Hogwarts. Great, what a life she was shaping out to have, and at the nice young age of 17.

After they were settled in a bit there was a knock on the door and Severus answered to find two huge folders full of papers for the convention. Severus tossed them onto the table, which had four chairs around it. On one folder it said 'Severus S. Snape, Potions Master, Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'. Hermione pushed his folder out of the way to get to hers and she wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry, or throw up when she saw what her folder said. It read, 'Hermione J. Snape, Apprentice to Severus S. Snape, Student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'.

After several minutes Hermione decided that it was actually very funny and started giggling and Severus who had been going through the papers in his folder looked up sharply and asked lazily, "Miss Granger, what is so goddamn funny?"

"I think that's Mrs. Snape to you," she answered laughing.

"What in God's name are you saying, woman?" Snape asked sounding mildly bored.

"Look at this," Hermione answered and held up her folder for Severus to see.

He stared at the folder and sighed, "We're going out, sharing a room and a bathroom, and now we're married. Albus is going to pay for this."

"You know what this means then, don't you?" Hermione inquired.

"What?"

"We have to act like a couple and endure questions about how long we've been together et cetera et cetera."

Severus sighed then said, "We got married in July, and we had been dating since the previous June. No, Albus does not care that we're married and the students found it odd at first, but now they're over it. Does that sufficiently cover it?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

Hermione opened her folder and looked through it. It had the ingredients and steps for all the potions they were to be working on for the next three days, and it also had an itinerary so that they could decide what they wanted to go to. Everything looked amazingly interesting that Hermione did not want to miss any of it. There was another knock on the door and a voice called out, "Mister or Missus Snape?"

Hermione got up and shouted, "Don't worry darling _I'll_ get the door!"

Severus glared at her and muttered, "You really are having too much fun with this, Hermione."

Hermione pulled open the door and saw a man standing there with two plates of food and she graciously took them from him and said, "Who ordered this food up here?"

He answered, "Not sure Miss Snape, but I think I saw a note on your husband's plate."

"Oh okay, well thank you very much—" she paused to look at his name tag "Tom."

"Have a nice afternoon, Miss," he said kissing her hand and bowing out the door.

Severus had watched the whole exchange and as the door shut he shouted, "Hey! Watch it, that's my wife. Bastard."

Hermione said mockingly, "You really having too much fun with this, Severus."

They ate their lunch-dinner in silence as Severus was reading the letter that came with his food. After he had finished reading the letter he folded it back up and put back into its envelope.

"Who was it from?" Hermione asked quietly, reaching out to lightly touch his hand.

Severus pulled his hand away, "It was from the manager apologizing about the room issue, he sent up the food. I was hoping it was from Albus explaining his thought process. I am sure he had something in mind with all this. Meddling old fool who needs to trim his damn beard. Getting too damn long. One day he is going to be walking down those damn long stairs to his office and he is going to trip over his own beard and fall to his death. Who will be laughing then?"

Hermione raised one eyebrow uncertainly and said, "You have quite the imagination."

"He eats too many lemon drops."

Hermione rolled her eyes and asked, "Are we planning on doing anything tonight?"

Severus looked up, "Not unless you wanted to. I was thinking of going out tomorrow night."

"That's fine I just wanted to know whether I should settle in or get ready to go out."

"Well, just to let you know tomorrow a lot of people are going to be giving you and I dinner invitations. If they ask when I am not there, say something along the lines of 'Severus and I are going on a romantic dinner tonight, sorry.'"

Hermione laughed and said, "Okay. I am going to go take a bath and get ready for bed now."

Severus nodded and Hermione went into the bathroom to take a bath. As she lowered herself into the bathtub she sighed happily, it was so nice to relax. It was like she was on vacation—or a honeymoon. She snickered at the thought. Severus' face when he saw her folder was absolutely priceless. It was a cross between a fish and an owl; dazed and confused.

After she finished her bath she walked out of the bathroom with a big t-shirt and shorts on. Her hair was wet and wavy and she pulled back the bed covers and lay down on her side of the bed and pulled out her book and began to read.

Severus gathered up his paper work from his folder and walked into the bathroom to shower quickly and go to bed. Hopefully by the time he came out of the bathroom Hermione would be asleep and there would be no awkward encounters. He let the hot water wash over him and he thought about the days events. It _was_ funny as Hermione had thought, but then it wasn't funny because it was the two of them. Student-teacher, teacher-student. He sighed and finished showering and walked into the bedroom and to his dismay Hermione was still awake and reading. As soon as he walked into the room she looked up and shut her book, then settled into the bed as though waiting for Severus.

He carefully pulled up the sheets on his side of the bed and slipped in next to Hermione, but still at a very respectable distance. Severus asked, "You ready to go to sleep?"

"Mhmm," she said tiredly and snuggled into the bed.

Severus leaned next to the bed and clicked off the table lamp and lay next to, but not close to Hermione, and he was just drifting off to sleep about two minutes later but then he heard someone giggling.

"Hermione, my God, what is it" he asked irritably.

She burst out laughing, and he sat up and turned on the light to see her face very red from trying to restrain her laughter.

"What?" he asked again lazily.

"Think about it Severus. I am with you in a hotel room, which would be funny enough, but now we're sleeping together. Oh my God, Harry and Ron's faces if they saw this! Harry would have a cow! Ron would have two! Ginny would pee in her pants… and everyone else—they really shouldn't know." She sat there chortling for a few good minutes no doubt envisioning Ron having two cows. Then Severus, realizing her incessant giggling wasn't going to end anytime soon said, "Done yet?"

Hermione stopped mid-giggle and said, "Oh yes, sorry, but I mean, come on now. The image of Ron having two cows! It is absolutely hilarious. Admit it Severus."

"Yes I suppose it is Miss Granger. Goodnight?"

"It's Hermione—and yes, goodnight."

As Severus turned off the light Hermione went into another fit of giggles. And deciding that it would really be easier to ignore it shut his eyes tightly and drifted off to sleep.

--

_A/N: Hey everyone, here's another update for you all! Sorry I've been taking a while with updating. Please read and review so I know what you liked or didn't like in this chapter. Thanks again everyone!_


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; J.K. Rowling does, I just made up the story.

**Chapter 14**

The next morning when Hermione awoke, she heard the shower running and rolled her eyes. Why did Severus have to wake up so early? She rolled onto her side to look at the clock and she saw the time was 6:30 am.

"Severus, go back to bed you insolent man! You took a shower last night!" she shouted at the bathroom door. Hermione rolled back over and tried to fall back asleep, but found that she was unable to fall asleep now that she was awake. She got out of bed to look at the day's schedule of conventions and meetings. Severus had circled all the meetings he was going to, therefore the ones that she would be attending, so she opened up his folder to look at the day's schedule.

Hermione was pleased to see the day looked informative but not too busy. Their first seminar was at 10 am in room 111. The seminar was about the use of Jobberknoll feathers in volatile potions. From the description it sounded like a Jobberknoll 101 class. Severus probably signed up for that class for her. The next seminar was at 1 pm in 'Hall C' and they would be learning how the Sopophorus bean not only affected the Draught of Living Death, but also the Scintillating Solution. Then, they would be attending one more class at 4 pm in room 217 where they would be uncovering some very important potions from _Moste Potente Potions._

As Hermione was putting away the schedule Severus walked out of the bathroom and he scowled at her and said, "Why are you going through my papers?"

"Oh, I was just wondering what we were going to be doing today. Don't get your knickers in a twist. Well, you can't technically 'cause you're not wearing any." Hermione answered him.

Snape looked down at himself, and rolled his eyes. "It is just a towel, Hermione. Are we so immature that as a seventeen year old we cannot handle someone in a towel?"

"Technically, you're my teacher, not just someone, but lets not get into that now. I should go get ready since we have to leave in three hours. If I don't hurry we might be late."

--

The day went by as a blur for Hermione, and luckily most of the people that she and Severus ran into didn't seem too interested in knowing where Hermione had come from or who she was to him. Hermione had been nervous about spending a whole day in Severus' presence. She knew he wasn't nearly as bad as everyone thought, but she still didn't feel very comfortable with him.

During the seminars he made comments under his breath, not on Hermione's behalf, but just because that was the type of person he was. The speaker would say something amazingly obvious such as "a bezoar is from the stomach of a goat" and Severus would remark, "Oh, is it now? Imbecile."

The next thing Hermione knew she and Severus were back in the room and he was asking her what she wanted to do that night.

"We could go out to dinner, walk around Pulchrit, visit some interesting sites. What would you like to do?"

Hermione thought quickly. Dinner was off the list, it would be so awkward, and walking around also seemed too personal. Visiting interesting sites around the city would be fun, enlightening, and best of all much more impersonal.

"I would like to visit touristy things in the city, I suppose. Is that okay with you?" Hermione answered.

"Yes, let me just gather up my things, and we'll be on our way."

After the two of them were ready, they boarded a roofless double-decker bus, and sat on the top so that they could look out and see the outskirts of the city.

Severus said, "We could just ride this around the city until the end of the line, and then walk back. I know it's not really a tour but I think it seems more relaxing. What do you think?"

Hermione answered, "Yeah, I like this much better, actually. It's gorgeous outside tonight."

As the two of them rode around the city Hermione could smell many different foods coming from various restaurants and she could hear music coming from a party at an office building that they rode by.

The night went on and the silence between Hermione and Severus got more and more comfortable. They just sat next to each other and looked out over the city. The bus driver said over the loudspeaker "This is the end of the line, we will be heading back now. Thank you."

Severus nodded to Hermione and the two of them went down to the first level and got off the bus. Severus looked around a bit, then headed down a street, presumably one that led back to the hotel. They walked side by side in silence for a while until Severus said, "Would you like to stop to get some food, or room service at the hotel?"

"Room service tonight," said Hermione sleepily, "I'm already tired. Maybe we could go out tomorrow night."

Severus nodded his head and the two of them headed back to the hotel.

After they got into the hotel room Severus handed Hermione a room service menu. Hermione looked over the menu and decided on a simple sandwich. She told Severus what she wanted since he would be calling down to order, and then she went to go take a quick shower. When she got out of the bathroom she sat down at the table where Severus was already eating. He was eating and reading at the same time, and seemed very immersed in whatever he was reading. She quickly ate her sandwich and walked outside to the patio and looked out over the beautiful city and thought about how this school year had been going.

She didn't realize how long she was lost in thought until Professor Snape poked his head out from inside the hotel room and said, "Miss Granger, are you done out there yet? I would like to get to bed."

She nodded and headed back inside silently. As they retired to bed Hermione made sure to stay very close to the edge of her side of the bed and Professor Snape did the same. There were about three feet of space between the two of them, which, Hermione thought, was not enough. Despite Snape's calm and indifferent attitude all day she still felt uncomfortable around him. The fact that she was sleeping with him just added to the tension. The fact that she had a weeklong crush on him just under a month ago did not help either. Hermione pushed all those thoughts to the back of her mind and fell asleep focusing on staying on her side of the bed.

--

When Hermione awoke the next morning she rolled over and felt her back collide with Snape's back. She gave a little shriek and quickly rolled back onto her stomach and propped herself up on her elbows. She gave a groan as she saw why she had even been able to see Snape over the large expanse of the bed. The two of them had somehow gotten into the center of the bed and were in a near-compromising position that Snape would have been shocked to find the two of them in. She quickly jumped out of bed and went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. As she was brushing her teeth she thought some more about what she liked to call the "Snape Situation".

She pushed all her discomforting thoughts about the situation, which she was going to make sure became a non-issue, aside. She kept in mind that she would be back at Hogwarts with her friends in a few days. Despite the fact that Snape had been pleasant and she had enjoyed, if you will, his company while she had been outside on the balcony she realized that it was just slightly creepy that she had been enjoying his company as she was. The thought was unnerving to her, and she felt that it was best to just go back to acting as Professor and student. She was positive that he would have no problem with it.

--

Even after Hermione had her second thoughts about this convention the rest of the trip passed uneventfully, but luckily she learned a lot from the trip. Luckily on the train ride home no old ladies asked them any embarrassing questions.

Once they walked into the entrance hall Hermione turned around and said, "Thank you Professor for allowing me to accompany you on this trip. I learned a lot."

Professor Snape answered, "It was no problem Miss Granger. Oh and about your schedule, I would like to change it around a bit. Why don't you just come in whenever would work for you, the number of times does not matter so long as you get the necessary potions completed. The only time for now that I will require you to come in for is 10 am on Saturdays."

"Yes, sir." Hermione answered.

Snape nodded curtly and walked off quickly, as distant as he had been to her at the beginning of the school year. While Hermione knew that it was for the best, deep down in her stomach she felt a little displeased. She shook herself and headed upstairs to the common room to talk to her friends.

--

A/N: Sorry about the 9-month hiatus! Between a busy summer, three boyfriends, SATs, and driving time has been slipping away from me. I hope to keep up with this story, and don't forget to e-mail me with any questions!


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters; J.K. Rowling does, I just made up the story.

**Chapter 15**

Ever since Professor Snape had taken Hermione off of an exact schedule she had been going in to work quite a lot, but in small amounts of time. One week she went in every day but only for an hour or two each day.

About three weeks after they had gotten back from the convention Hermione walked into the lab at about 7 on Thursday night, in mid-November. She found that Professor Snape was already at work brewing a potion when she arrived. She put her bag down next to the bench she usually occupied. He didn't look up when she walked in, and he usually did. She didn't start brewing yet, but she realized that about a week after she and Professor Snape had returned from the convention he had been becoming more and more like the potions master everyone in the school knew so well. He snapped at her more and wasn't even trying to be remotely kind to her anymore.

She didn't usually talk when she was with him unless she had a question or had a comment to make. She knew that he valued his silence and needed silence to concentrate on the more complicated potions.

Hermione cleared her throat to see if he would look up. He didn't so she began as calmly as she could, "Um, Professor may I please talk to you about something?"

He looked up sharply. "What is it Miss Granger? Can't it wait?"

She sighed; this wasn't going to be easy. "No, Professor it's important."

"Alright, if you insist." He said putting a quick stasis spell on his potion.

Hermione took a deep breath. "Listen Professor, during the few days we spent together at the convention you were nice to me and it was actually pretty enjoyable to be with you. You didn't reprimand me, or treat me like another dunderhead student. You actually gave me a near-compliment once. Now you are being a complete and utter jerk to me. I would understand if it was during class, but we are in private no one is here to hear you be kind, you're reputation would not be ruined I can assure you."

"Why do you care Miss Granger? Just forget about the convention weekend. Think of me as your bastard Professor, not some nice guy who pretends to be mean."

"I care because I know that you aren't just my bastard Professor, that's only part of you." She answered, her voice rising.

"Don't you dare raise your voice at me, Miss Granger!"

"Why can't we be on equal levels? You accepted me as an apprentice and allowed me to go to the convention with you! Why aren't you treating me like an equal?"

Snape was now ignoring her, but she could tell he was still listening. She heard him mumble something under his breath that sounded something like, "Bloody Gryffindors".

"So this is what this is about? It's because I'm a Gryffindor? Or could it be because one of my best friends is Harry Potter or because I'm a—oh what's the term—oh right a _mudblood_?"

Snape looked up, looking absolutely livid.

"How dare you say that I judge people on their blood! You know perfectly well that I have not been an active death eater for over 20 years! I have never called anyone a mudblood in class, never. It also has nothing to do with your friends, or the house you were sorted into. It has to do with the fact that you are my student and you clearly do not have one ounce of respect for me. If you respected me you would know something more about me then you claim to know. You don't know why I am the way I am, so if you don't want to accept the way I am without an explanation, so be it. But do not expect me to explain myself to you."

Hermione was staring at him with wide eyes; she had never heard him speak so much at once. Also, in a way he had revealed a lot to her.

Snape was looking at her with fire in his eyes still and feeling herself break down she said quickly, "Oh… sorry Professor." She glanced up at the clock. "Oh, is that the time? Well, I better go." Then she grabbed her book bag and quickly walked out of his lab leaving an angry, but bemused Professor.

--

Ginny had noticed Hermione come back quickly from Snape's lab and run directly up to her dorm. Hermione was inside her dorm room lying on her bed and thinking about what Snape had said to her. It was all true, and she recognized that she had grown too accustomed to a pleasant and kind Professor when that's all that he is used to being to people. She was surprised she hadn't realized earlier that what she really needed to do was take things slowly. She knew he could be a nice person, but he has never had anyone be truly nice to him besides Dumbledore and probably one or two other people. She fell asleep contemplating ways to befriend Professor Snape.

--

The first class on Friday was double Potions, and Hermione wasn't sure whether to be happy, sad, or scared. As her, Ron, and Harry sat down together Snape walked in right behind them. He didn't seem to be in a terribly bad mood, just a normal Snape-like mood. Harry and Ron didn't know about the fight, but they probably noticed that something had been weird when she had hastily returned to the common room the previous night.

As Professor Snape took his spot at his desk and looked around the classroom Hermione tried to catch his eye. When he finally looked her way, she saw his eyes connect with hers and she gave a quick glance that she hoped would convey the message 'Professor-Snape-I-respect-you-and-I-apologize-for-what-happened-last-night' type of look. Professor Snape gave her a quick nod, which she assumed meant that he understood and all was forgiven.

Even though Hermione and Professor Snape had made up she was still nervous about going to her apprenticeship tomorrow. She wanted to get someone else's opinion on it so she asked Ginny to come up to her room with her. After Hermione explained the fight to her Ginny just shrugged and said, "You got into an argument, you made up. Knowing Professor Snape he won't bring it up. He probably wouldn't have brought it up even if you hadn't wordlessly apologized to him in class today. If you want to feel some more closure then if I were you I would say something to him briefly tomorrow morning"

Hermione nodded her head as Ginny then changed the topic to how cute Harry was and how hot he looked in his new jeans that he was wearing that day.

The next morning after Hermione finished her breakfast she walked down to the dungeons for her apprenticeship. She walked into Professor Snape's private lab and found him at work on a potion that she didn't recognize. He lightly nodded his head to a bench that was across from him on the other side of the cauldron. She sat down on the bench and waited for him to get to a point where he could take a break. When he finally stopped Hermione quickly opened her mouth before he could say anything. "Professor, I still wanted to apologize for Thursday night. What I said was not thought out, and I was mistaken."

He looked a bit shocked by what she said, but quickly covered it up and said, "Miss Granger all is forgiven, perhaps we could start anew?"

Hermione nodded and he went into an explanation of what he was working on. It was a fairly complex potion that he just wanted her to watch him make this week and he would explain the theory to her. The following week she would be able to attempt to make it on her own.

After he was done with the potion he said, "That is all for today Miss Granger. You can stay and read the book I have over on the side table, which is the theory behind this potion."

"Thank you, sir. I need to make some infirmary potions first." She answered.

He nodded then headed into his study, probably to grade papers. Hermione quickly made two batches of pepper-up potion and bottled them up. She checked the list of self-updating infirmary potions and she was right on track. The clock read 12 pm, and deciding that she could stay a bit longer headed into his study quietly. Professor Snape was sitting on a couch, and had his feet resting on the coffee table in front of him. He had his reading glasses on, and was as Hermione had guessed, grading papers. He had his quill out, and his infamous bottle of red ink he used to grade papers with. He had a look of amusement on his face, as though the paper was telling a bad joke.

Hermione sat down and began to read the book that Professor Snape had recommended she read to get more information for the upcoming lesson. Hermione was so engrossed in her book that she didn't notice the time until Professor Snape arose from his spot on the couch and stretched. She looked up at the clock and saw that it was already 2:30 pm. She sighed and said, "Thank you Professor. I don't know when I will be able to come in this week. Friday night is okay, right?"

Snape looked over at her and answered, "Yes Miss Granger, you are welcome in here any day at any time."

"Any time?" She enquired.

"Yes," he answered seriously, "I do not sleep much, and if you really wish then you may come down to work or read at any time. I just do not want you brewing anything complicated while I am asleep. I would feel safer if you were to stick to the infirmary list when I am not able to help you."

She smiled and said, "Thank you sir."

He nodded and she turned around and left without another word.


End file.
